The Rise of Night
by SavvyHughes73
Summary: Percy Jackson Kane Chronicles crossover, written by two die-hard Rick Riordan fans. Guaranteed to spark edge-of-the-seat excitement after one chapter.
1. Chapter 1

RACHAEL

Chapter 1

I thought I was safe.

I admit, almost an entire year with no monsters when you're a demigod is pretty lucky. Especially when you're my kind of demigod.

The classroom was in chaos, by normal standards, but this was just a normal MACC day. It was almost shameful. Usually I was on guard, watching for any ripples in the system, anything suggesting monsters. But one year in a normal classroom with no warnings from Chiron had kept me relaxed for too long.

What a stupid mistake.

I was simply reading one of my books, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Once in a while, it was nice to read about fiction that was actually fiction. I was sitting next to Leah, who was working on one of our many crazy projects. Probably something about organizing a tour for rich people, or designing a new hotel. You never knew.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rachael Stone, and yes, I am a half-blood.

Anyway, I was just minding my own business when Ms. Harper strolled in. This wasn't weird. So many teachers came into our classroom for coffee that I had lost track of them. Ms. Harper was in for Mr. Brown today. She had been a TOC in our school a few times, and after the first I lost interest.

An even more stupid mistake.

As soon as my head was down, she attacked. I didn't see her until Leah screamed.

I hadn't seen an arai in a long time. I almost screamed myself as she got ready to lunge…. Oh, sorry. Back up. An arai is a curse monster. Straight from the depths of Tartarus, their hate toward demigods runs deeper than any other monster I've known. So basically, when a demigod kills a monster the monster gets mad, it plants a curse. Then if you happen to run into an arai and harm it the arai plants one of those curses on you. In other words, they are evil she-demons who hunt you in hope of planting curses from already-dead monsters.

Confused? Welcome to my world.

I thought back to every monster I've ever faced, and my head hurt. I looked to my left. Leah was still gaping. I didn't really blame her, and tried my best to calm her down, until I realized that for her to be screaming, she must be able to see the truth.

She could see through the Mist.

This wasn't necessarily a bad thing. After all, when the satyrs had started to spread thin because of sudden demigods popping up all over the place, I was actually here to help out.

But, honestly, right now I had enough to deal with.

I looked around. Everyone else was continuing his or her work, absolutely oblivious to the life and death situation. I spotted my best friend Savannah, or Savvy, as I called her, across the room, and saw her not attending to her work, but staring wide-eyed at the aria completely rooted to the spot.

Just wonderful.

Two mortals who could see through the Mist? Did this mean they were both demigods? I shook my head. First things first: I had to get everyone out. I racked my brain for ideas. The arai was pacing around the room now, glaring into everyone's eyes. I looked around and spotted a fire alarm near the entrance to the classroom. It was risky, but what choice did I have? I couldn't very well just sit here. I started to work my way to the alarm, sincerely hoping that the arai wouldn't notice me.

No such luck.

I glanced around to find the once clear path - as clear as it gets anyway, the students in our class aren't exactly 'neat freaks'- to find my area now completely blocked off. Ms. Harper, or the arai as she now was, was standing right in my face.

This was bad. She was bigger than usual and her red eyes narrowed down on me, as if deciding whether I would taste better boiled or deep-fried. She lunged at me, but I ducked and rolled, sprinted to the other edge of the classroom and made a taunting face at her. Probably not a good idea, but I had to keep her focused on me.

Sadly, it worked.

She ran, claws drawn, but I lightly tapped the silver stone embedded in my pearl bracelet. My bow, Alexis, Greek for 'defender' now unsheathed, I nocked my first arrow. My bow was sparkling silver and had a pattern of leaves along the handle and the rim of my quiver. My arrows are long and slim with Greek writing along the edge.

I slammed the rear end of my arrow into her head while trying to ignore Leah's expression. I jumped up, and wrapped my heels around an overhanging bar, and, hanging upside down, fired arrow after arrow. I couldn't hit the arai, because that would unleash who knows what curse on me, but I simply kept her preoccupied. I eventually forced it to back out of the classroom, after which I jumped down to Leah.

I didn't have much time. I ran up to her, and she was staring at me with shock, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. She held up the 'Mark of Athena', which she had recently been reading, unable to put together words. I nodded.

"There's no time to explain." Leah was, like many of my friends, a fan of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books. Too bad she had to learn that the series was far from fiction.

"But your arrow, the arai…"

I grabbed her shoulders. "Look at me." She looked, her eyes full of fear. "I need you to help. I need you to get everyone out." I ran over to the fire alarm and pulled it, and closed my eyes and imagined flames around the back of the classroom. I snapped my fingers. After opening my eyes, I saw that everyone was in panic mode and looking at the back of the classroom and then backing away. They started to evacuate. I breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn't sure if the Mist would work this time as it didn't work all the time. I had learned to manipulate it only a few months ago, and I still didn't know how I had acclaimed the ability, but I could think about that later.

I looked up. The arai was back in the classroom, more furious then ever. I sent a couple of arrows toward it, but it wasn't falling for that trick again. I glanced around, helpless. And then I saw that one mortal hadn't evacuated.

Savvy was still rooted to the spot. I ran forward, my bow drawn, but as I was nearing the arai, it switched directions.

It was heading straight for Savvy.

Okay, this was really not good. I needed help. I yelled into my bracelet that still encircled my wrist.

"Annabeth! The TOC turned into an arai!"

"Oh gods. Did you get everyone out?"

"Yes."...Kind of.

"Okay. We're coming."

I cut it off. A table spilled over, blocking my path. Soon after, a light came crashing down, but I managed to avoid it. The arai was trying to block my path. But what did it want with Savvy?

"Savvy! SAVVY! You have to get out! You have to get to safety!" She was still frozen, simply staring, unable to do anything. "Savannah!" Suddenly she snapped back to reality.

"Rachael! Why-"

"There's no time! You have to GET OUT!"

"But-"

The arai lunged forward, claws extended.

I made it just in time.

I leaped forward, shielding her body. Ms. Harper, or the arai rammed into me, forcing me to the ground. I tried to look at Savvy to see if she was okay, but I was pinned down. The arai's massive wings spread out. Somehow she butted against the side of my head and all I could see was darkness.

…

Suddenly I was 12 years old again. I was being forced against the ground, the dirt and roots pressing into my clothes. The arai smirked down at me, it's black wings spread out. It lunged yet again, this time clothing my vision in darkness.

…

I forced myself back to reality. I was fourteen, and I could handle the situation. My eyes fluttered open. I looked up at Savvy, afraid and confused. I had to help. She was just a mortal, there was no way she would be able to protect herself against the mother of hatred.

But before I could make any move to help, Savvy pulled out a knife. She rolled under and stabbed upwards, her dagger clashing with the hard metal of the arai's underbelly. The movement messed up her balance and she ended up beside me. I was full of shock. All this time Savvy was a demigod, and I didn't even know it.

"A what?" Savvy asked, somehow keeping the arai busy. Did I ask something about being a demigod? I didn't even know anymore.

"Come on, Rachael," I muttered to myself. "You have to help." I counted to three in my head and tried to stand up, but my vision blurred. What kind of curse was this?

I looked up to see Savvy backed up against the wall, and badly bleeding. The arai lifted her claws.

"No." Somehow I managed the words. I could not pull Savvy into this. It was my fault she was like this. I should have been there to protect her, and instead I was here, lying on the floor. I tried to stand up again, but staggered and fell to the floor yet again. Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light, which I knew could only be caused by a very powerful being, and I tried to blink the spots out of my eyes. I opened my eyes to find Savvy gone, disappeared into the light. As the arai advanced with her massive wings and sharp talons, all I could glimpse was the shadow of a Greek warship descending in the distance.


	2. Chapter 2

SAVVY

Chapter 2

And to think I thought I was safe.

It was the first time in forever that I felt scared. I'm not talking about a nervous kind of scared, like stage fright or the stomach plunges you get on a roller coaster, which is actually quite fun to me. I'm talking a deep, icy terror that washes over you and drags you under, a bottomless sea of metal delirium. Sounds weird, but it sure wouldn't if you were me.

I backed up. The school was burning down, literally. All my friends were safe outside, all but one, of course.

The creature fixed her beady eyes on me. She grimaced like she was smiling gruesomely. Smiling at my cowardice.

I reached for Thorn. Holding it out with shaky hands, the monster got ready to lunge, again, for my throat.

…

My name is Savannah Hughes, or just Savvy like everybody calls me, and I am a "juvenile delinquent".

My life is a mess. I ran away 5 times over. I've been all over North America. I never could fit in, so when it gets to be too much I leave. I would change my last name and find a new life.

I messed up big time when I snuck on a plane to Vancouver from California. They were waiting for me at the airport. I don't know how they found me, but I think it was totally my fault anyway. They put me in an orphanage, and miraculously I was adopted after only a week. People don't usually adopt 14 year old troublemakers like me; they go for the adorable little tots. You can imagine my surprise when my social worker told me I had new parents.

The Harrisons are ok, I guess. Gordon Harrison, the 50 year old hippie who has long hair and is in a rock band, is a little on the weird side. But Beth is very grandmotherly, and she's the only lady I've ever met that respects me. She tries the hardest out of the three of us. Sometimes I feel really guilty when I get into trouble, because I really like her. It was her idea to adopt me. I don't think Gordon really wanted me at all.

I have dark gold hair and brown eyes. My mood varies like the ocean— calm on some days, rowdy on others. I am of average height, and yippee for me! I have dyslexia and ADHD. My friend Rachael can relate. She has ADHD as well, but she used to have dyslexia. If you knew her, you would never for a second think she has dyslexia. She is a human bookworm.

We both go to a school in Port Coquitlam, Kwayhquitlum Middle. Like I said, I'm a juvenile delinquent, but juvie just doesn't work for me so they put me in a public school. I'm in this gifted program, which is weird considering I'm not gifted. Apparently test results show I am, but they're just saying because they think I'll fit right in. MACC class is a class full of unordinary kids who seem to get along with each other well enough, but I still can't seem to fit in. Why?

I. Am. Socially. Awkward. Proof of that: Of all my life, I have one friend, if you're not counting inanimate objects — Rachael Nicholas.

At least I've made a friend. Although Rachael and I don't have a lot in common, we understand each other really well. Rachael is so different. She keeps to herself yet she's a genius. There's something about the way she is, but we tell each other a lot of our secrets. I know she still hides from me some stuff. I hide from her loads of secrets too. The hidden parts of my life, the ones I never ever share with anybody.

Today I snuck out of the house at 5 AM to walk around and clear my head. I had this bad feeling, the one I get whenever something big happens. I usually get it right before a monster turns up. Yep, monsters. I'm dead serious, in case you think it's funny.

I came home at 6:30 AM before Beth and Gordon wake up. They're used to me disappearing like that. They can scold me all the want, but I go wherever I want whenever I want to. I'm just that way. Still, I don't want them knowing where I've been.

My favourite outfit are jeans, a camouflage jacket with secret inside pockets, and a pair of worn converse shoes, covered in doodles and my only pair of shoes, period. My hair is usually messed up and all over the place if I can't force it into a simple ponytail.

I also always wear a clip, the only thing I have from my mother, according to my social worker. Although I don't really like it that much, it's the only connection that I have to a long dead mother. I never probe into the history of my past; I don't want to make myself feel any worse. Maybe if I knew more about my mother's death, I would stop blaming her for the unwanted and mostly depressing life I'm living. But with nobody to blame except for me, I can't help but get mad at someone I never knew. Why did she have to go and die?

I can't throw the stupid clip away. It's old and plastic, and used to be black but is now grey. It was something you would find lying on the side of a road but I still couldn't throw that thing away. I always clip the stupid thing carefully to my hair every morning without fail. Today was no different. I was rushing on account of being late to school, but I spent a moment to gingerly slip it into my hair, and then snatched up my bag to go.

"Have you gotten your lunch? Did you finish everything due today? Remember, your social worker is stopping by after school to see how you're doing after school, so be prepared, OK, Savvy? See you, and please try to stay out of trouble for once, dear!" Beth can be such a mother at times. I roll my eyes as I walk out, but out of gratitude for taking me in and trying to connect to me I call behind my back, "See you, Beth!"

…

Everything was fine at school. We were working on our countries project, and Fraser was being annoying as usual. Still, I hid my feelings of unease as I bent over my paper at the end of the day, pretending to work as I absently doodled, fighting to keep my eyes open and wondering why I ever took a walk so early this morning when I had slept so late at night last night. I was on the verge of exploding after sitting through a quiet day with nothing happening. Then I happened to glance up for the 32nd time today.

It was a monster, a demon, with sharp claws and massive wings and spectacles, which sounds a little weird, but every monster I've met tried to pass off as humans, and it actually works — the humans think monsters are just like them.

So I was right, something was going to happen. Sometimes, I hate myself for being so… correct.

The monster was talking to Mr. Lau, my homeroom teacher, but its eyes were fixated on Rachael. Nobody in the class noticed it. It was weird, but every monster I met went unnoticed by normal humans. However, I apparently, was not normal.

I gasped, horror-struck, and jumped to my feet, but started when Leah gave a little scream. Nobody noticed— noises of any kind were familiar to all MACCS, but Leah was also looking at the she-creature. She could see it?

Rachael's eyes swivelled around to us both. And then she jumped up and dashed to the fire alarm.

Miss Uglyface intercepted her, but she ducked and rolled like an expert, and made her way to Leah, yelling at her to get the others out. Suddenly the back of the classroom was covered in flames. Flames? No, I blinked and the image dissipated, and then reappeared in front of my eyes again. What kind of illusion was that?

It was chaos. Everybody ran, and I could see Leah helping the last person out the door. She looked back at Rachael before leaving, but she didn't see me. I stayed still, trying to calm myself.

Rachael was fighting the monster using arrows, weaving through the classroom. She was fighting only like a professional could. But Rachael? Rachael using a bow and arrow? Yet she was hitting every target with the arrow perfectly.

She shot another arrow at Miss Uglyface, but missed. On purpose? Spotting me she darted towards me.

"Savvy, Savvy!" She yelled in my face. I swayed dizzily. "You have to get out! You have to get to safety! Savannah!"

"Rachael?" I stared at her. "Why-"

"There's no time! You have to GET OUT!"

"But-"

Miss Uglyface leapt forward a surprisingly long distance, and I was too stunned to react. There was a flurry of movements and suddenly Rachael was in front of me. She had taken the blow!

Both human (human?) and monster rolled on the ground, wrestling. Unfortunately, Miss Uglyface managed to bonk Rachael hard on the side of her head, and she collapsed. Miss Uglyface kicked her away. Rachael's eyelashes were fluttering. Could she be alive?

No! Rachael was my one and only friend. She had to be alive.

Uh oh! I was losing control. All my life had been devoted to the quote: "Nothing gives a person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances", Thomas Jefferson. I had always maintained my mind and kept it in a calm and collected state in emergencies, especially in ones like these, but seeing the helpless Rachael strewn on the ground made me want to break down. It made me want to destroy Miss Uglyface…I mean, the monster.

The creature started towards me and smiled. That did it. I reached for Thorn, the bronze double-edged dagger, from inside my coat. Its leather handle was worn and supple to the touch, fitting like a glove in my hand. The blade was undecorated; a gleaming bronze double edged blade. I had picked it up from my hiding place in a knothole of a tree at the trails. That was where I was this morning. The blade was trembling.

I could see Rachael dizzily raise her head a little, gaze unfocused. I breathed a sigh of relief. She was ok.

Well not ok, more like not dead.

The monster lunged for my throat, and my instincts took over. I rolled under and stabbed upwards, dagger clashing with the hard metal of her underbelly. The blow knocked her off balance, as did I, but I just rolled again to absorb the impact and ended up next to Rachael. It was her turn to look stupefied.

"No, no, no," muttered Rachael. "You're a demigod, and I didn't even KNOW?"

"A what?" I dodged as Miss Uglyface headed for me again, but her sharp talons scraped my side.

I howled. My side felt like it was on fire. I stumbled and Thorn slid out of my hands and clattered to the floor. She kicked it to the side. Great. I was unarmed. The blade wouldn't appear in my hands for a while. Thorn is magical, but its magic is slow.

The monster had cornered me. I backed up against a wall, stumbling, but I couldn't feel anything. My clothes were wet… with blood?

The monster advanced. This time, I was NOT going to survive.

Goodbye Rachael, I thought, squeezing my eyes shut. I'm sorry.

There was a flash of light, and I opened my eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

RACHAEL

Chapter 3

I awoke in the Athena cabin. The sun's rays were shining through the windows onto my face, and I blinked, bringing the world back into focus. Annabeth was standing above me, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Rachael?"

I groaned. Everything hurt.

"Ugh." I looked up at Annabeth to see her storm gray eyes still focused on me. Apparently "ugh" wouldn't cut it. I decided to start with something positive.

"Hi."

"Are you okay?" She asked, which was the obvious question, but I wasn't really sure. I took in my surroundings. I was in my bunker in the Athena cabin. It looked normal enough. The beds were still pushed up against the wall. The bookshelf at the back of the room was cluttered with books as usual. A few tables sat beside them, covered with diagrams and geometry sets. Usually when you don't know your parents you stay in the Hermes cabin, but after a while I got moved here.

My bed was mostly clear, except for me, of course, and I looked across to find Annabeth's covered in more diagrams and calculations. Usually everyone would try to keep the cabin clean, but they knew better then to touch Annabeth's stuff. The last guy…well lets just say he was in the infirmary for quite a while. I spotted the desk at the back of the cabin to find it also covered with sheets of paper and Dadulas's laptop. I managed a smile: same old Annabeth.

I shook my head to try to clear my thoughts. "What happened?" I asked, trying to get the facts straight.

"You don't remember?"

I shook my head again. "Me, the arai and then…not much."

Annabeth nodded. "Looked like you took a pretty hard hit to the head."

"How long was I out?"

"Just a couple hours." I nodded, and managed to sit up. "When you're feeling better, Chiron wants to talk to you. I think everyone else does too. We can go when you're ready."

"I'm ready now," I said, which probably wasn't true, as I had a bad headache, but I needed to talk to someone.

"Are you sure?" She didn't need to wait for an answer, but just looked at my expression. "Okay." She helped me up, and we walked outside to the big house, my thoughts still fuzzy. But the cool fall breeze felt good, and by the time we got to the Big House I remembered everything.

I didn't really like what I remembered.

We walked in, Annabeth holding the door open for me, but I could just about walk by myself now. However I didn't argue when Chiron offered me a chair. This was going to be a long talk.

I looked around to find the other seven demigods staring right back at me. I almost smiled. We were back at the Ping-Pong table. It was almost like old times, but my expression darkened when I thought about the situation.

We were all silent for a few minutes. I glanced around the table, and looked at each demigod in turn. It was funny how each of our complicated pasts had eventually brought us to this room.

I myself had had my own share of 'complicated'.

Chiron started the conversation. "So, Rachael. Maybe you can explain exactly what happened back there." I took a deep breath and told them everything.

When, I was done, my story was met with mixed faces of shock and dismay around the table.

"Savvy and Leah can see through the Mist?" Hazel asked, who was leaning against Frank and making her own attempt to take in the information.

Percy was sitting across the table. "Which means…"

"More demigods," Frank confirmed. But it wasn't this part that worried me. The flash of light, Savvy's dagger, it just didn't make sense. I really hated stuff when it didn't make sense.

"Yes," Chiron said, turning everyone's center of attention towards him. "I believe that Savannah is indeed a demigod. You said that she had a knife Rachael?"

"A dagger," I answered.

"But if she herself does not know that she is a demigod, where did she get the dagger?" Piper put in, who was sitting next to me, observing her own dagger, Katoptris, which she had received only after coming to Camp Half-Blood.

"I'm not sure," I said, sweeping back my black hair, wondering how Piper could manage to always look so beautiful. But she was a daughter of Aphrodite, after all. I didn't really care about my hair. As long as it was out of the way I was happy.

"It is true that we do not how or when Savannah came to own this dagger, but the information does confirm that she is, indeed, a demigod," Chiron remarked. Everyone nodded. "But I am not sure that this Leah is a demigod."

"But she could see through the Mist," Hazel pointed out.

"But that does not prove that she is a demigod. There are some mortals who can see through the Mist. And Leah shows no sign of dyslexia or ADHD."

"But not every demigod is dyslexic," Frank put in, as he himself was neither dyslexic nor had ADHD.

"I don't think Leah is a demigod." I said. Yes, it could happen, but the way she reacted, it just…didn't feel right. Something told me that Leah was just a regular mortal.

No one else questioned me.

"But that still doesn't explain everything," Percy said, suddenly speaking up. He was probably tired of loose ends. I knew I was. "How Savannah got her dagger, this 'flash of light', and if Savannah was a demigod all this time, why didn't you have a monster attack sooner?" It was a good question. Two demigods in one place for a whole year, one of them with full knowledge about the Greek and Roman gods and no monster attacks?

"I think we will just have to count ourselves lucky on that one," Chiron said, his face deep in thought. "But as for the flash of light, are you sure that it wasn't just the sun in your face?"

"I'm sure." Chiron already knew it wasn't anyway. I had run into a lot of things, being a demigod, but a coincidence was not one of them. "And after the flash, Savvy was gone. She just disappeared."

"Maybe it was just one of the gods whisking her away to some place," suggested Piper.

"I want to know where she is," I interrupted.

"All in good time Rachael," Chiron soothed.

"But-"

"Later." His voice was firm, so I kept quiet.

"Could have been Hera." I looked up. It was Jason speaking. This was very possible, especially after Hera switched Jason and Percy's places to bring the Greeks and Romans together.

"But what would she want with Savannah? She doesn't even know she's a demigod," Annabeth pointed out. I flinched at that. That was my fault. "But at least Rachael was able to contact me when she did," she continued.

I managed a smile at this. Demigods couldn't use phones; it was like sending up a flare letting every monster where you were. It was basically saying: Hey! Evil monsters! I'm right here if you want to kill me! But last summer I managed to somehow create magic bracelets that could send short messages from demigod to demigod. They were faster than Iris-messaging, but they used a pretty strong magic. I didn't even know how I made them, it just seemed like I had a knack for 'magical stuff.' I had even managed to work with Leo to store my bow and arrow in the bracelet. Now all I had to do was tap the silver stone and voila! Immediate monster-killing weapon.

"Yes. Looked like Rachael's bracelets really worked," Chiron said, still trying to put some light on the situation. But then his face turned dark once more. Something must be troubling him.

"So evil she-demons attack another school. What else is new?" asked Leo. I glared at him. "Well, it is all that happened," he pointed out. I glared at him some more. Hazel nudged him. "Okay, okay, chill. It's important. I'm not saying anything," He decided.

Annabeth spoke up. "Perhaps Savvy just came across the dagger somewhere and learned to use it to defend herself. It could happen." I nodded. That was always a possibility.

"The dagger could have been a gift from the gods," I suggested. But I was doubtful. The gods, Greek or Roman hardly ever stepped in to help.

Percy frowned. "So what do we do now?"

Annabeth spoke up. "Maybe we should send a couple scouts out. Just snoop around, see what's going on." It was a good idea. Even after we defeated Gaea, monsters still attacked Camp Half-Blood on more than a regular basis. It would be nice to have an in on what's going on.

"I'll go," Jason offered. "Piper can help me."

Chiron frowned. "Three is the ideal number for a quest."

"This isn't really a quest," Piper reasoned. "And less people would probably be better for our purposes." We all nodded. Chiron sighed, and I knew he still wasn't satisfied, but he let it go.

"I should probably return to Camp Jupiter. Reyna is going to kill me if I'm here much longer," remarked Frank. It was a good idea. As praetor of Camp Jupiter, Frank had duties that he needed to attend to.

"I'll go with him," Hazel offered.

Chiron stepped in again. "This is for you to decide, but I must warn you that splitting up is dangerous."

"We can regroup if necessary," said Annabeth. Seems like she had a logical answer for everything. "And we can Iris-message if anything comes up."

"Then it's settled," said Percy. "Piper and Jason will go on a scouting mission to see what they can dig up, Hazel and Frank will return to Camp Jupiter, and the rest of us will remain here?" Everyone nodded. But I still felt something was wrong.

"Chiron?" I asked. "What did you mean 'this is for you to decide'?"

"I am afraid I cannot provide help in this situation." He shifted nervously in his wheelchair.

"So you know what's going on?" I persisted, hopeful.

"I do not understand everything, but I do suspect bits and pieces. But the Fates keep me from intervening," Chiron looked around. "I think that is enough talk now. Let's give Rachael some time to rest."

I was very grateful. I was already completely worn out, and my head throbbed as Hazel walked me back to the Athena cabin. I must have seemed to be in a foul mood, because Hazel asked,

"Hey, are you still mad at me for taking credit with the Mist battle against Pasiphaë in the House of Hades?"

"No. Why?"

"You seem angry about something."

"I have a lot on my mind."

I had actually come to camp even before the Greeks made peace with the Romans, but Rick Riordan never mentioned me in his books. What I did was either ignored, or someone else took credit for it, such as my fight against Pasiphaë. We made him promise that he would never write about me. I had to stay a secret. It was safer that way, but from what I was kept safe from I still didn't know.

Our war against Gaea and her giants in July had slowed Gaea down, stopped her even, and attacks had slowed down. I thought back to when we returned back to our camps, Frank as praetor, Jason a Greek demigod. After a month or so, we had regrouped in Camp Half-Blood.

We were inside the Athena cabin now, and I flopped onto my bed, ready to pass out. But as Hazel walked out there was one question that I needed answered.

"Hazel?"

"Yeah?"

"Why couldn't I handle the arai? It was just one monster. I've been through way worse."

Hazel hesitated. But she knew that I wasn't going to rest until I got an answer.

"Maybe because it hit a little too close to home."


	4. Chapter 4

RACHAEL

Chapter 4

I've been an orphan for as long as I can remember.

I lived in 'Madam Isabelle's Orphanage for Young Girls' in Coquitlam, BC. It was a shabby place, and not very well known so we rarely got donations. Whenever we were lucky enough to get money it was always hoarded by Madam Isabelle.

Madam Isabelle is what you may call 'a strict adult'. As far as I know she doesn't have kids of her own, but she acted like she was the mother of the whole world. She was the kind of person who would pull you aside and scold you if you were playing rough on the playground and would remind you to 'eat your vegetables!' while at a restaurant. Madam treated the whole orphanage very strictly, but she seemed to hate me in particular. Whenever one of the kids was playing rough she scolded me. Whenever I snuck food she scolded me. It seemed that Madam went out of her way just to find some kind of fault, no matter how small or insignificant.

I didn't really like Madam.

One day, after much of pestering about where I had come from, she explained that I was a 'foundling'. Apparently one cold autumn day Madam had opened the door to find a small cardboard box on her doorstep. It wasn't very large, not much bigger than a shoebox and had three holes in the top in the shape of a triangle for air. The only words written on it was Handle With Care in a thin black permanent marker. Madam opened the box to find yours truly, wrapped in a tiny light blue patchwork quilt. Tucked in a fold in the box was a small worn out slip of paper that read:

Baby Girl

8th February, 1999 2:30AM

That cold evening onwards Madam Isabelle took care of me and raised me in her dainty orphanage. It was the one thing I respected her for. After learning this I searched the entire orphanage from top to bottom until I found it.

The box was hidden behind old scraps of drywall in the building's attic and I have kept it with me ever since.

I grew up in the orphanage, walking the younger kids to and from school. Though I didn't go to school myself, Madam Isabelle tutored me herself at the orphanage. It was like homeschooling, but Madam didn't follow the curriculum. She taught me whatever she thought was necessary such as survival skills, but focused mainly on mythology. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, I knew it all.

One spring day, when I was 11 years old, I was taking a walk. It was a beautiful day. There was a soft spring breeze that ruffled through the green leaves; the flowers were in full bloom, and the sun high up in the sky.

I was still an hour away from the orphanage when I saw the smoke.

Thick plumes of it rose into the sky, heating the air. I ran as fast as I could. By the time I got there, the entire orphanage was in ruins. The last flames of fire licked the walls, and the smoke rose higher and higher in the air. The siren of a fire truck wailed in the distance but I could hardly hear it.

I skirted around the orphanage digging around for anything I could salvage. But the entire building had been consumed. By now I was yelling out, crying and screaming at the top of my lungs. The orphanage wasn't the best place in the world, but it was the only place I knew. The only one I could call home.

"Madam! Madam!" I screamed, hopelessly digging through the ash. But what I found wasn't Madam, but the corner of certain worn out shoebox.

I dug it out and quickly as I could. Apart from a bit of ash that had settled on it and a couple of burned edges, the box was unscathed. It seemed to be the only thing that had survived the fire. Hugging the frail box I got up and ran. I just kept running. I didn't have a certain goal in mind, as long as it was away from that place.

I was only 11, and didn't have any idea what to do, but those lessons of survival had proved extremely useful. I found ways around. I learned how to manage. A couple weeks ago, this would have seemed completely impossible, but whenever I didn't know what to do, a little voice would speak inside my head, giving me advice. I also went out of my way to avoid Social Services. I'd rather be on my own then with them. And no matter what, I always kept my box close.

It was only a few months later when I ran into my first monster. Looking back now, it was almost a good thing that I didn't know I was a demigod, or the monsters would've found me even sooner. The monster was 12 feet tall, with bulging arms and fat legs. It's face looked like it was stuck in a permanent scowl, with its single eye blinking angrily.

Yep, I was pretty scared.

The monster, or a Cyclops as I now knew it to be, towered over me. I didn't realize its intentions until I saw it raise its club.

I barely made it out alive. I sprinted away as fast as I could, clutching my box and a newfound backpack. I ducked and jumped and turned, not even daring to look behind me. Eventually I lost the Cyclops, but I still was scared out of my wits.

A couple weeks later, I ran upon a knife. I had run into many knifes, kitchen knifes, workshop knifes, you name it. But this was different. I felt a bond with it right away, and somehow I knew this was meant for me. Usually the idea of carrying a knife scared me, but when put the knife in my backpack, I felt stronger. More ready.

It was beautiful in a different kind of way. It had a short leather handle that was supple to the touch from years of use. The blade was sharp and long, but not in a scary, overpowering kind of way. It was more like a soft blade, meant for self-defence, for me to feel safe.

I had wondered many times where the knife had come from. I knew that it hadn't been left there by accident. It was put there on purpose. Somehow, somewhere, someone was trying to help me. I didn't like knives, and never used them as a weapon, but this one was my lucky charm.

…

I was twelve years old when I found Camp Half-Blood.

It had been a quiet day, and I had recently moved on to Long Island in New York to try to find shelter. No monsters attacked, but I had been running low on food, and needed a place to restock on supplies. That evening, I curled up in an alleyway, my teeth chattering due to an especially cold night. My eyes had just about closed when I saw her.

Another monster.

I stood up, gripping my knife. My box along with other supplies was in my backpack and I was ready to bolt at any second of necessary. My whole body was shaking as I took in the creature. It looked wrinkled and old, but somehow knew that it wouldn't hesitate to strike. The creature had bat-like wings, brass talons, and wore a dress of black as dark as obsidian. The she-creature's face was twisted in a cruel sort of way.

I was shivering uncontrollably now, from the cold or solid fear I didn't know. My stomach felt like it had been plunged through icy water. I felt like a frozen block of ice, rooted to the spot, unable to do anything. Three more appeared in the alley, almost stepping out of the shadows. Their eyes were a glowing red, focused on me.

"Who-what are you?" I managed, forcing the words out.

We are the curses. We are the hatred. We are the arai!

I decided that now would be a good time to run. I unfroze, my instincts taking over, and bolted through the streets, the arai yelling curses as they sprinted after me. Their voices were like writhing snakes, twisted and mean. I had never run so fast. I didn't know what those things were or what they wanted, but I knew I had to run. I dodged and ran for I don't know how long, but somehow I stayed alive. I figure you can run pretty fast when you're about to be dinner for four she-demons. My whole body was crying out with pain and tire from running for so long, but I didn't stop.

Eventually I found myself running up a hill, the grass wet with dew. I looked up to see what I thought was some kind of camp. What? Why is anyone camping out here? But something told me that I should keep running that way. Where there was a camp there were people, and I could use any type of help right now.

My face was beaded with sweat as I kept running for my life, but I started to slow down. My body was screaming with pain from the few slashes the arai had managed to deliver. I stopped, heaving and trying to muster any courage I could. I turned around to find them right behind me, closing in fast.

"Don't come in any closer." It was meant as a challenge, but came out in a croak. My body reacted as I slammed into something, and my hands touched bark. I was backed up as far as I could go. I clutched the tree with all my strength, trying not to black out. The arai closed in, and I knew that my year of luck would end here. It was over.

You have out up quite a fight, little one, but no more. Now we will feast! The arai pounced, talons drawn, and lunged for my throat. I tried to knock her out of the way, but she forced me to the ground. The monster pinned me down, her black wings spread out, filling my eyes with darkness. I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Hey! Leave her alone you uglies!"

I opened my eyes to find two people running towards me. One of them was a girl older than me, and she was holding a dagger in her hand. The other person was a boy who looked about the same age, maybe 15? The voices seemed distant, but soon grew stronger as they neared me, yelling out some very unkind things. The arai grew agitated, and the one on top of me stood up, but not before slashing me in the stomach. I cried out in agony and tried to blink the spots out of my eyes. The arai backed away from me, one of them kicking me away. The girl and boy were yelling again.

"Annabeth! Get back into camp!" said the boy.

"You very well know I'm not going anywhere!"

"Fine."

I managed to glance the boy fighting the monsters with a three-foot long bronze sword like a professional, deflecting their shots and delivering blows faster then ever. Meanwhile the girl hurried over to me.

"Come on! You have to get up!" the girl was pulling on my arm, so I propped myself up, but as I readied myself to stand, she just started dragging me in the direction of the camp.

"Percy!" she screamed, while still dragging me like a rag doll. She stopped, and I looked up in fear of the arai, but they were gone, and all I saw were four nice little piles of dust where they had one been. What was that about?

"Annabeth! You can't just go around dragging people like that!"

"Oh. Right."

"I'll get her." He walked over and carefully lifted me up and carried me to the camp, thankfully in a more dignified way. He soon put me down, as if we had crossed some kind of border, but I didn't see any difference. I was still shocked from the turn of events.

"You'll be safe here," the girl said. "The monsters cannot get past Thalia's tree." she said this in a pained sort of way, as if recalling hurtful memories. I tried to look up at her, but I was feeling extremely dizzy. My surroundings blurred in and out of focus, like a camera trying to get a clear shot. My whole body felt ice cold, and I cried out as the fresh pain of the monster's slash came back. I tried to get a grip on things, but I couldn't focus. All I can remember after that was simply falling to the ground.

The next thing I remembered was someone feeding a sort square thing to me. I swallowed, almost not even bothering to chew, and as soon as I tasted it a warm feeling spread through my entire body. It tasted exactly like the fresh bread we would sometimes bake at the orphanage. The memory filled me with longing.

I blinked and opened my eyes to find myself in a deck chair on the nicest porch I've ever seen, looking at a view of a green meadow and rolling hills. The boy was sitting next to me, almost studying me. I looked up to see the night sky, filled with stars, and the full moon glowing high in the sky.

"Uh...what exactly happened?" I asked, still trying to get a grip. But the boy just shook his head and fed me more of that square. I felt another warm ripple pass through me, and slowly everything felt clear. Remembering my mythology lessons, I understood. It was ambrosia: the food of the gods.

"I'm Percy," said the boy. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess," I replied. "Where am I?" Percy simply sighed. Looked like these people were used to everyday children covered in dirt showing up. He took in my black curly hair now tied in two pigtails and my aquamarine blue eyes.

"We better take you to Chiron." He helped me stand up, and together we walked down from the porch, and around the house.

As we rounded the corner, I caught my breath. The scenery was almost too much to take in. The land was dotted with ancient Greek buildings, a pavilion, an amphitheater and a circular arena, but what was weird about them is that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns almost glowing in the moonlight. At the end of the porch, two people were sitting at a table. The man had big watery eyes, a red nose, and curly hair so black it looked like dark purple and wore a Hawaiian shirt. The other one I recognized to be the girl who had dragged me like a rag doll into camp. She had long blond hair tied back in a ponytail, and intense gray eyes. But what really caught my attention was a man sitting on a white stallion nearby. No, he wasn't sitting on the horse, he was the horse.

Okay, so this was a little weird.

Percy introduced the man to be Mr. D, and the blond girl to be Annabeth Chase. The horse-man leaned down and stuck out his hand and introduced himself to be Chiron, the 'camp director'. Percy sat down, and the four of them just stared at me.

"Okay, I have no idea where I am and who you are, and I have done nothing wrong. So can someone just tell me what is going on?" I demanded. This was turning out to be the craziest day of my life and I seriously needed answers.

Chiron took a deep breath and asked, "Rachael, have you heard of Greek mythology?"

…

That was the day where I learned about being a demigod.

Chiron said that a god or goddess would hopefully claim me that night at the campfire, but he couldn't be sure. I wasn't claimed, so I moved to the Hermes cabin, which is where all the new campers sleep. But after a while the Hermes cabin got super crowded, so I moved yet again to the Athena cabin.

I soon forgave Annabeth for treating me like a rag doll and we went on to be really good friends. Turns out she had arrived at Camp Half-Blood after running away herself, so we understood each other, even though she was three years older than me. After reaching Camp Half-Blood I took up archery, and seemed to have a gift for it. I got my bow and arrow, named Alexis, from the Athena Cabin. It even seemed to glow by the light of the full moon. Over the year I increased my skill at archery, and soon took up pegasus riding as well. I loved to climb trees, and was very good at stealth. Before I knew it I was going on my own quests, and helping Percy and Annabeth with theirs.

Time passed, and when Rick Riordan – a mortal who could see through the Mist – started writing his books about being a demigod and wanted to include me, Chiron refused and said I should be kept a secret. I never understood why, and even now I do not know his intentions. Two years later, I still have my box and the words Handle With Care have not yet faded.

At the age of fourteen, I became the youngest member of the Great Prophecy, otherwise known as the Prophecy of Eight. Yes, you heard me right. Not seven, eight. Like I said, Chiron kept me a secret. And to do that he made Rick Riordan change the prophecy to make it have seven people instead.

Life's pretty good as a demigod, and I have made more friends than I could ever have imagined. But there is one thing that has really bothered me since.

Who are my parents?


	5. Chapter 5

SAVVY

**Chapter 5**

The room was filled with light.

I had no idea where I was. I'd never been here before.

It wasn't really a room, more of a narrow hallway. There were images on either wall, but they were fuzzy. They were moving, shifting, transforming, blurring, and looking like holograms in a sandstorm.

Everywhere, blue pictures… no, what were they… hieroglyphics were floating in mid-air, sometimes combining the pictures to make another word. I spotted a bird hieroglyphic drop hieroglyph poop that narrowly missed me. There were also these balls of fire that occasionally changed colours when they bounced off each other.

Okay, this had to be a dream. Definitely a dream. But… was I really creative enough to dream up weird things like those?

I didn't concentrate on those things. I looked straight ahead of me. I couldn't see the end of the end of the hallway, where the hieroglyphs were coming from, but I felt a magnetic pull towards whatever was there.

I took a step forward… and staggered. My left side… I glanced down and shrank away from the half dried bloody mess of my camouflage jacket. I had four long gashes from the talons of Miss Uglyface. It was oozing blood, and it screamed in pain. I looked away, breathing hard.

I felt a bulge in my jacket, and frowning, realized my dagger Thorn had finally came back to me. Of all the times for its magic to work…

_Dreams aren't painful,_ I thought as I tore off a piece of my shirt, covering up the ugly mess of my wound. I couldn't help but glance up longingly towards the end of the hall. Abnormal curiosity was burning through me. I _needed_ to see what was at the end.

I took another cautious step forwards, then another, then another. The hall was long, but I didn't notice time past. I was too intent on trying not to cry out in pain as I concentrated on putting one foot forward at a time.

As I neared the end, I slowed, and then stopped. I even forgot my wound in wonder.

In front of me was a wooden throne on a dais. The throne was occupied by a tall man holding a crook and a flail, the symbols of an Egyptian pharaoh. I recognised it from the Egypt project we did at school. The hieroglyphs seemed to be coming off him, peeling off his skin and floating away. His eyes were strange and mesmerizing, one golden and one silver, and were lined with Egyptian eyeliner— kohl. He had a dark, tanned and muscular body with leather armor over it, matched with sandaled feet. There was a shimmering golden aura surrounding him. The energy in the room seemed to vibrate, and I could tell this man was very powerful and was NOT someone you would want to mess with. He looked familiar, like I've seen his picture before or something.

He smiled warmly at me. "Savannah Hughes. Welcome to the Hall of Ages."

"Savvy," I automatically responded. "What are you?"

He frowned, offended. "I should think that I would be well-known enough for you to at least know my name. I'm not a what. I am Horus the Avenger and the Falcon, King of Egypt, godly ruler of the House of Life." He smiled smugly.

I stared at him, unable to comprehend the information. "Godly ruler?" Suddenly, I started to laugh. It was the craziest thing I'd ever heard. "You can't be a god! You can't be Horus!" I shook my head and my smile faded. "I get it now. I'm crazy. That's comforting. Either that or you are too."

The shock crossed the man's features, followed quickly by anger. He half rose. "You dare…?"

Suddenly he stopped and sat back down, sighing, as if I wasn't worth the fight. "Mortals, these days. They don't believe anything, even with proof sitting right before their eyes. Of course this is real, and yes, I am an immortal god, an Egyptian one at that!"

"No way. That's not possible!" I was horrified, and taken aback by the mortals comment. He called me a mortal, like HE wasn't. Was he really a god? "So... I'm not crazy?"

"No, but I'm turning crazy from the way you act!" Horus rolled his eyes. He sat forward on his throne and regarded me. "Listen, Savannah, or Savvy, haven't you ever had weird things happen to you? Things you couldn't explain logically, factually?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes, a lot. Especially monsters. But I didn't think…"

"You didn't want to think," Horus cut in. "It was better for you not to know more, actually, so it's good you didn't ponder on strange events."

"But why am I here? Why have you brought me here?"

"Ah. Good question." Horus stroked his beard. "You are here because you have an appointment with someone else."

"Who?"

"That would be me," Said a light voice from behind me. I swivelled around to see a woman walking towards Horus. She walked up the dais and stood next to the throne, exchanging smiles with Horus. She was in a white gown with multi-coloured wings spread out behind her, flickering in and out of my vision. Her blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders, and she looked beautiful.

"Hello, Savannah Hughes," said the woman. Her eyes bored into me, and I felt like she was scanning my entire well-being.

"Savvy," I mumbled.

"I am Isis, goddess of magic and healing, former queen, mother of the present king of Egypt."

She looked a little familiar too, like Horus, like I'd seen her before or something. However, she looked familiar in a… different way. I took her in silently, giving me a few seconds to maintain a calm and unruffled expression before answering.

"Why am I here?" I repeated faintly.

"You are here to need to know some things before you proceed, Savvy." Isis looked meaningfully at Horus and cleared her throat. "Horus, if you please."

He stood up and grinned at me. Then something abnormal happened; his body shrank, his mouth grew until it was a small, curved beak and he sprouted feathers. In a few seconds he was a falcon, standing on the armrest of the throne.

I blinked.

Horus the falcon ruffled his feathers and glided smoothly down the Hall of Ages, or whatever it was Horus said this long, weird hall was. I leaned the other way carefully as he passed, wary. Even if he was a god, I didn't want bird poop on my head. I swore the falcon gave me a wink before passing by me.

Isis turned back to me.

"Savvy, you must know that there are many more things in life that "meets the normal human eye", but you, my dear, are not normal."

I narrowed my eyes. I've didn't like to be reminded how completely alien I am, but I knew she was talking about a different kind of normal.

Isis smiled beautifully. Then her smile faded. "There are many things you need to know, but not much time."

I opened my mouth and then grimaced as another wave of pain racked my body. Isis noticed, and her eyes filled with concern. She reached forwards and I thought her shimmering hand was going to pass right through me like an illusion, but I felt the light pressure of her fingertips brushing gently on my wound, before she pulled her hand back. I looked down and gasped.

My wound was closing up. I watched in disbelief as the blood disappeared. It was like watching a video of my wound spanning weeks and weeks, though fast forwarded. The gashes closed up in a few seconds, and then it scabbed over and turned pink, before shrinking into nothingness. Not even a scar. My camouflage jacket was good as new, no blood, and no tatters. Even the shirt, which I ripped a piece of fabric from, was back to normal.

"Listen," Isis said. "They are coming and they will find you. I moved you to a safe place away from the monster arai, which was the best I could do. The Fates do not like gods and goddesses intervening with mortals' lives."

"Ookaaay…"I pronounced the word carefully as my mind raced. "So if "they" find me…"

"Follow them," assured Isis. "They are a good sort, but don't let them know. They might suspect, though. Don't put up a fight when they find you. Promise me you will stay with them."

"Maybe," I said grudgingly. I didn't like being told what to do, but she was a _goddess_. "But who are they? Can you tell me?"

"No," She admitted. "The Fates do not allow me to say. But you must know this, Savvy. You are very powerful. Too powerful, so much so you wouldn't have survived this long without two sets of gods…" she stopped abruptly and continued, "But now you will be in a safe place, or as safe as it gets in your world."

"Not very safe, then," I muttered. "But why are you helping me?"

Isis smiled sadly. "It's not just me that is helping you. You think you're alone, but we have been watching you all your life. We know more about you than you know yourself. We know your destiny." She opened her mouth to say more, and then paused. "Anyway, take this as a lucky charm. This is the only other source of help the gods offer you on your long, painful journey ahead. Use it wisely, and only in an emergency. It only works once. She opened her palm, and in it was a dull gold amulet hanging from a chain. It kind of looked like a lucky horseshoe sign with its ends tied together. "It's called a sa," explained Isis. "It stands for protection. This is the last thing we can do for you, so remember my dear, use it wisely."

I stared at the amulet and found a lump in my throat. Although it was only a necklace, it was the only present I received in my life. It would probably be the most useful, too.

The goddess closed her fingers over the amulet and when she opened her hand again, it was gone.

"Be brave, Savvy." The voice grew fainter as the room started to spin. "We're watching you, don't forget."

"Wait!" I cried, genuinely afraid now. "Can't you tell me a little more? This stuff is not enough to operate on!"

The wind rushed around me and the room was spinning and I was so dizzy I collapsed and blacked out. Again.

…

I came to lying on the side of a highway in a field of flowers.

The first thing I could see was the sunny sky. All that sun hurt my eyes, and I sat up so fast I got a wave of vertigo and lowered myself back down gently. A bee buzzed in my face and I swatted it away. "Ugh," I groaned as I sat up a little more slowly and brushed grass off my camouflage jacket.

There were no cars on the highway, and the air was a little cool despite the sunny day. I was a little dazed after the "appointment" with Isis.

Isis. A goddess, a real life goddess. How ridiculous was that? Although my brain flatly refused to accept my meeting was real, my instincts whispered that I shouldn't be stupid and ignore her advice. However, I still couldn't wrap my mind around it. I just couldn't.

I have had a weird life. Ever since I was eight or nine years old I've encountered exactly many different but equally gruesome monsters, and trust me— they were so not cookie monsters. All of them are able to fool people into believing they're one of them. All of them have targeted me especially for some extremely stupid reason, and have ignored other people. I've managed to evade all of them… barely. The first and only time I've killed one of those things, it turned into sand and scattered in the wind. I got away from the others in a more classic way— running.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm no stranger to weird. Weird has a whole new definition for me. But my version of weird does not extend to things like Egyptian goddesses, and gods turning into falcons, and teleportation.

I stretched my stiff neck and felt pressure on the base of my throat I hadn't felt before. My hands went to my neck. It was the sa amulet that I saw in Isis's hand. I fingered the cold, gold charm for a while, forced to believe that the meeting was real after all. That doesn't mean I wanted it to be real— Isis had said my journey would be long and painful, and for some reason, I didn't like the sound of that. Also, I was kind of angry that the gods would provide so little help after so long of aloneness.

I stood up and looked around, drinking in the normal scenery after a too long time in a too weird place. Well, it was normal compared to the Hall of Ages. I had no idea where I was. There was nobody around, at all. Was I even in Canada? Sure didn't look like Coquitlam to me.

Where was I supposed to go? I wondered if Isis had forgotten to tell me something.

Whatever. I decided to walk somewhere until I could find human civilization. All these birds and bees crap was starting to really creep me out.

So which way do I go? I decided to do the least practical thing – follow my nose. That usually worked for me. Well, my nose was pointing _that_ way, so I decided to go _that _way too.

After a half an hour, I seriously doubted my choice, and after another 30 minutes I decided my nose was entirely untrustworthy. I had seen only a couple of cars, and none of them wanted to take a hitchhiker back to where they came from.

I was deadbeat. Usually I could last a little longer because I'm more or less fit, but all the excitement of today had worn me out. The whole walk I worried about Rachael. I cursed myself for not asking Isis how Rachael was doing and where she was, but she probably wouldn't have told me anyway. She and her stupid Fates.

And then there was Beth. I heaved a sigh. She must be really worried right now, with me missing. I really didn't know what to do.

I decided to sit down for one second. The fields were now all fenced up and covered with strawberry and grape plants and all the other fruits and vegetables they grew here. There was no space anywhere but the road, and there were no cars anywhere to be seen and I hadn't seen any for about 40 minutes, so I decided to lie on the middle of the road and rest for the first time today.

Big mistake. I should have been on guard, but suddenly I heard a screeching of tires very, very close by.

I could see big, monstrous tires bearing down on me, and my muscles froze. Then they tensed, and I reacted. I rolled to the side and onto my feet despite the hard, gravelly road (it hurt my bottom).

The truck lurched to a stop. I put my head between my knees and tried to steady my breathing as someone jumped out the back of the truck and hurried towards me. I heard car doors slamming.

"Hey!" I heard running footsteps and felt a hand on my shoulder. "Are you ok?"

I looked up and felt like shriveling up immediately. It was a guy probably a little older than me, who looked genuinely concerned. I had no idea how to talk to girls, much less guys, and I was afraid I'd pull the wrong impression. He was wearing loafers, slacks, and a button down shirt, like some kind of college professor.

"Yeah," I said breathlessly. I tried to maintain a calm, totally not embarrassed face. I didn't want to display more social awkwardness now, of all times. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Another girl ran up to us. She looked like one of those girls you would not want to mess around with, with highlighted hair, a leather jacket, and combat boots. The look on her face was annoyance mixed with exasperation. "Bloody hell! What were you doing, you nutter, napping out on the road like that? Were you just begging for car accidents?" She had a little bit of a British accent when she spoke.

The guy glared at the girl. "Sadie, would you please shut up for one second? We almost hit her with a car!"

The girl, Sadie, folded her arms. "More like she almost hit our car, Carter!"

My face was probably beet red. "I… I was _not_ napping!"

The guy, Carter, sighed. "Ignore her. She's a pain. She was complaining about anything and everything the whole trip."

Sadie looked miffed. "You're the one that's the pain in the bum…" She trailed off, staring at me.

"Um…what?" I said uncomfortably.

Sadie tilted her head and frowned. "Carter, look at her amulet."

He looked, and apparently didn't like what he saw. "Isn't that Egyp…"

Sadie shook her head in warning. They exchanged glances. Self-conscious, I hid my pendant beneath my jacket.

Carter studied me. He looked like he was weighing two options. Then he asked me, "You look like a hitchhiker. What's your name?"

"Savannah. Savvy," I replied.

"Well, Savvy, would you like a ride?"

I was relieved. My legs ached. "Sure," I said gratefully.

We walked back to the car, and I saw Sadie look at Carter with raised eyebrows. I wondered if the "they" Isis was talking about were these people. I hoped not. I was averse making friends with someone like Sadie.

"W…who's the driver?" I asked nervously, cursing my awkwardness a million times over. I couldn't see the driver through the dark tinted window.

"He's, uh, our… friend." Carter stammered. "Mr. Doughboy, actually."

"Yes, he's our father's friend," Sadie said, a little too quickly. I narrowed my eyes.

Sadie and Carter seemed to have come to an agreement.

"Maybe you should hop on in, Savvy," said Sadie casually.


	6. Chapter 6

SAVVY

Chapter 6

I sat in the back of the truck, opposite Sadie and Carter. Although they looked nothing alike, I suspected they were siblings. I was right. I may not be good at reading, but I am great at reading people.

We talked, though I was super awkward. I asked them tentatively about themselves, but they were hesitant and didn't give out much information. All I could gather was this dude, Mr. Doughboy, was driving them into somewhere into Buffalo to meet up with their Uncle Vinnie (I know, right? First Mr. Doughboy, then Uncle Vinnie?). I was shocked that Isis had teleported me all the way here. Buffalo? I don't know the first thing about Buffalo, except… well, Buffalo chicken wings are good.

Anyway, judging from Carter's guilty expression, I was doubtful if they were telling the truth. Sadie was very convincing, though.

I tried acting cool and calm, but inside, I was screaming at the goddess. I mean, seriously. Buffalo, New York? How was I supposed to go back to my home? Not that it was home, of course, but it was the best temporary place so far in 14 years.

Carter and Sadie, in turn, just had to pepper me with millions of questions!

"So what were you doing outside the city?" Sadie demanded to know.

"Where are your parents?" Carter asked curiously. Mr. Doughboy was unusually silent up front. I couldn't see him at all, actually, as a wall separated the front from the back.

I plastered a fake smile on my face and tucked my hair behind my ear, which is what I always do when I lie. "I'm going to visit my grandmother. She's inside the city, and I'm a little late, so I'm grateful that you're driving me there." The lies popped out easily. I have been lying all my life.

Carter looked convinced, but not Sadie. "And your parents?" She asked, raising one eyebrow in disbelief. "Where are they? Why were you walking by yourself?"

I almost shot her a murderous look, but composed myself in time. The questions had caught me off guard. "They know, of course. My dad was driving me here, but… well… his car broke down, so I'm walking there. He's going to try to fix his car, but… there's no more battery on his phone, so he can't reach anyone, including Grandma." I thought some more. "Grandma's a little weird, so she might freak out if I don't show up. Which is why I want to get there as fast as possible," I said, smiling angelically while cursing Sadie inwardly.

Carter was nodding, but Sadie snorted.

"What is it now, Sadie?" Carter sighed, irritated.

Sadie swept back her hair. "It's obvious, dear brother. She's not telling the truth, of course!"

"How do you know?" I asked, infuriated by her very presence. I was beginning to ditch the attempt to make friends.

"Well duh! I know a liar when I see one!"

"Because you yourself are a liar." I sat back, arms folded tightly. "Your stories aren't exactly truthful either."

We glared at each other. I was really starting to dislike that girl.

Carter broke the silence nervously. "Look, let's admit that we can't tell each other some stuff. Can we just leave it at that?"

Sadie turned her glare on her brother. "Well it's not like we can just tell her everything! We don't even know if she is one at all!"

Carter shook his head. "Can't you feel it, Sadie? She is, but she doesn't know yet!"

Sadie shook her head, but suddenly the truck engine started making a bunch of popping noises, and the vehicle hissed to the stop.

We all jumped out. My head was still spinning from Carter and Sadie's words. We had stopped next to a field of tall corn stalks that stretched on for forever. There was a sign saying Buffalo - 80 miles.

"What's wrong?"

Sadie shrugged. "I don't even know how to fix engines! Wish Bast was here."

"Doesn't the driver know?"

"Well… no. You see…"

The tall wheat rustled, cutting Carter off. I stepped back nervously, hoping desperately that this was not another monster attack.

"Guys," I started slowly. "What's… going on?"

The back of my neck prickled. I thought I could pick out faint whispers in the wind. I glanced at the siblings. Both of them were staring at the wheat field.

"What is it, Sadie?" Carter whispered urgently.

"I detect something… different," said Sadie slowly.

"Could it be Setne?" asked Carter.

Sadie frowned. "I doubt it. Carter, this would probably be the right time to take it out."

Carter nodded. If I said I was confused before, I was wrong. He concentrated, crinkling his forehead, and reached his hand into empty space. My eyes widened as his hand disappeared. Then he reached back his hand, holding a brown workbag. It was like he just reached into an invisible locker and pulled out the bag!

"Where…" Words failed me.

Carter glanced at me, like he just remembered that I was a human being. "I would use the crook and flail, but I prefer the khopesh. Sadie, stay with her. Don't come with me."

"Why do I have to be the babysitter?" grumbled Sadie.

"Because you're younger," Carter replied. He rummaged around the bottom of the workbag and took out four mini statues, four centimeters each with animals for heads. He handed them to Sadie along with a compass, who set them down along a perfect square after consulting the compass. North, south, east, west, the four cardinal points.

"Wait." My voice had found its way back to my throat. "I don't get it. What the hell is going on here?"

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Here." She thrust a piece of chalk at me. "Draw a circle, connecting the Sons of Horus." She looked at my puzzled expression. "Those are the four statues," she explained.

What else could I do? I drew a circle on the ground. When I straightened back up, I folded my arms. I was determined for answers.

"I need to know right away." I said firmly. "Tell me what is happening. Now."

Sadie opened her mouth, probably to answer with a withering retort, but just then we all froze as the wind picked up and the dark clouds gathered over the rustling wheat.

Carter looked at Sadie and me glumly. "Stay in the circle, ok?"

Sadie opened her mouth to retort, but Carter disappeared into the tall wheat. She craned her neck to try to spot her brother in the wheat, but it grew too close together. She huffed in exasperation. "Stay in the circle, Sadie, you must listen to me, Sadie, you're the younger, and because I'm two years older I have complete dominance, Sadie…he's agony."

"Where's Carter?" I asked. "How is staying inside the circle protecting us?"

"It is magic protection," said Sadie. "As long as you stay inside the circle, these little chaps here—" she nudged the four little statues, the Sons of Horus, with her foot "will protect you from… things." Sadie looked away, not quite meeting my eyes.

"What kind of magic is that?" I said.

"Egyptian." She looked straight at me. "We're magicians, Sadie. We're trained to fight evil."

"You can do magic? You're a magician? An Egyptian magician? Where did you train?" I had bazillions of questions, but just then there was a yell and an earth-shattering BOOM! The dark clouds were swirling around the centre of the fields more rapidly.

It was Carter. It was definitely Carter, having trouble with whatever was out there. I glanced fearfully at Sadie, and saw that her face was pale and wan-looking.

"I have to go after Carter," muttered Sadie, and whipped around to dash straight into the wall of wheat and corn stalks. Over her shoulder, she yelled, "No matter what, stay in the circle!"

Like hell. My choices were to stay safe, or go after a couple of new and possibly insane strangers and risk death against the unknown. The choice was easy for me, as I tentatively took a step outside the circle, hoping something wouldn't magically pull me back. I never, ever, listen to people. Nothing happened when I stepped out of the circle, so I took out Thorn, and ran pell-mell into the corn stalks after Sadie, who had already disappeared.

All was quiet in the maze of wheat, when out on the road there was much noise of storm. The only sound was the rustling of the talks as I tramped straight through them. The stalks blocked out all sound, and they pulled at my hair and clothes, and I had to fight my way through it. It was really, really dark, and I was hopelessly lost.

I heard another loud BOOM. It was much close, and I struggled towards that noise. Now I could hear faint yelling, and… laughter?

I saw a light ahead, and in a few seconds I had stumbled into a clearing. Every wheat stalk had been evidently cleared. In the middle stood Carter in the middle of a battle, but Carter was… different. It was like he was encased in this giant holographic shell, which took the form of a warrior with a falcon head, about 15 to 20 feet tall. He was right in the middle, and was hovering above the ground. Whenever he made a movement, the falcon headed warrior did likewise. He was holding a really large curved sword, and was battling a…

Well, I don't really know. He was a 20 foot tall man wearing a wheat braided toga thing with leather armor over it, and bare feet. He had wheat and barley stalks braided into his hair, and he was holding a really large spear, except the spear seemed to be, well… a wheat stalk. Everything was metal, and the leaves sticking out looked really sharp. He had an aura of godliness, except the aura pulsing off him was dark as night. He was like the evil clone of Horus.

The Wheat Stalk Spear clashed with Carter's curved sword. They were fighting impossibly fast. I watched as the weapons clashed again, and Carter used that chance to yell, "Ha-wi!"

I watched in disbelief as a giant blue fist of energy slammed into the Wheat Dude, lifting him straight off his feet. Carter charged Wheat Dude again, but his actions were becoming slower, duller. I could tell that his avatar was hard to maintain. Wheat Dude was back on his feet in no time, and pointing his spear at Carter, shouted "Tas!"

Wheat stalks erupted from the tip of the spear, snaking across Carter's avatar, binding him tightly. His avatar shimmered out of reality and in five seconds flat, Carter was tightly bounded. He fell to the ground, unable to move and speak.

"Carter!" I was panicking. I barely knew this guy, but I was still scared for him.

The Wheat Dude had spotted me. Straightening, his golden eyes raked over my face, and his thin lips stretched into a painful smile. No, not a smile, a leer. At 20 feet, he blocked out any light, although the dark stormy clouds swirling around directly on top of us already covered the sun.

"So, I suppose you're here for him? Little midget, you are. You really think you can overcome the…" He trailed off. His voice sounded light and carefree, but I could hear the disturbing menace behind the façade.

"The… what?" I tried to sound strong and fearless, but there was a distinct quaver to my voice.

"Nothing. Me. Rephrase: you really think you can overcome me, the handsome Neper, the cleverest of all gods, the master of one of the finest ingredients on earth? And what do you think that is?"

I side-glanced towards the stalks. "Cornflakes?"

"You did not just say that. You did not just… you would never…" The god, Neper, shook his head and bent down on one knee to scrutinize me closely. "It's strange how initiates are so undertrained and uneducated, nowadays. A mortal would know what kind of god I am. Grain, barley, emmer wheat, I am the Egyptian patron of harvest, midget." He shrugged, and evil glint to his eye. "I always love to have a little fun before turning magicians to wheat, you know. I'm sure you— what did you say your name is? — would make great cereal."

"Savvy. I'm Savvy Hughes," None of what he said made sense to me, but for once my voice was steady. "And I refuse to be cornflakes."

Neper's mouth dropped open. "Not… You… Savannah? You… the one…?"

I didn't give him a chance.

Yep, that's right, I charged a god.


	7. Chapter 7

RACHAEL

Chapter 7

I really hate demigod dreams.

Let me fill you in. Demigod dreams aren't your normal everyday 5-year-old dreams. They're not about flying unicorns or Candy land, or silly superheroes saving the world. Our dreams are more like insights. We get glimpses of the past, present and sometimes future.

Normal demigod dreams are bad enough, but I just have to be special.

Like I said, in a usual half-blood dream you just get glimpses of what's going on. If you are getting an insight on the enemy some monsters might even feel your presence and can end your dream, but you don't actually see yourself there. I, however, am an actual being or person when I have dreams. It's not me, like my body, but part of me. Still not so bad, you think? Well, instead of my being or spirit or soul or whatever being the image of me as a person, it's the image of a highly respectful and powerful animal:

A chicken.

Go ahead and laugh.

On more thing: I can actually choose whether I want to experience the dream or not. I've never told anyone about my special uh…case, but I think Chiron knows. I guess after training heroes for three thousand years you start to pick things up.

Anyway, tonight, like most nights, I was offered a decision. Experience a life-threatening, extremely terrifying vision that probably won't even make sense, or stay nice and comfortable between the covers of my bed.

The choice was pretty simple.

I shivered as the chicken form of me floated out of my bed and into the night. The world around me blurred in and out of focus, making me dizzy. After my surroundings cleared, I spotted a river in front of me. But this wasn't any normal river: this river was made of fire.

Sure. Why not?

But something troubled me. There was only one river of fire that I knew of and that was the River Phlegethon. There was only one problem: the River Phlegethon was in Tartarus.

I took in my surroundings. It looked like I was inside a darker version of the Grand Canyon. The cliff dropped off more than 80 feet, much to steep for me to climb up. That left only one other direction: forwards. I floated ahead slowly. The air was hot and humid and it seemed to be weighing me down with every step. The ground was like an oozing mud pot, bubbles of gigantic sizes gurgling and rising up and then popping loudly. I looked up, but there was nothing to look up at. The 'sky' was pitch black and quiet. The whole place had a pungent odour. It reeked of one thing: monsters.

I kept float-walking forwards, down the side of the Phlegethon. But a huge brown bubble rose up directly in front of me, at least 10 feet in diameter. With a hiss an empousa broke through the bubble and stood up. I froze, praying to the gods it wouldn't notice me, but the empousa passed its eyes right over me and continued on. I was completely exhausted now, which was weird because it was only a dream. I slowly felt the air around grow colder and darker with every step. The whole land was pulling me down, taking away my energy.

After a while I came to what seemed to be the edge of another cliff covered in sand. No, not sand, more like…glass. The whole area was covered is sharp shards of black glass. The darkness here was extraordinary, darker than anything I'd ever seen. The darkness was almost tangible, twisting in and out of itself, pulling at me. It felt like standing on the edge of a black hole. I looked down the edge of the cliff to see (if that were possible) an even darker place. But what should've been a deserted and forlorn area was actually alive with energy. The desolate area beyond the cliffside seemed to be pulsing like a heartbeat. I squinted into the distance and spotted the outline of a black mansion. Floating in the abyss, perhaps about 300 feet below was a doorway of pure black marble.

By now I felt the ground tearing at me, my identity being pulled away. How did I even make it to this place? No mortal should be able to stand here and live. I must be having help from one of the gods. I screamed in my head, willing myself to stay in reality. Grey mist swirled from beneath the cliff up to where I was standing, burning my skin. I screamed again, louder this time. This was no place for a mortal.

I woke with a start.

The entire cabin was empty of people. I looked across from my bed expecting to see the softly snoring figure of Annabeth, but the bed was clear. What time was it? I glanced at my watch: 9:57 a.m.

I had no idea I had slept in that long. I dressed in my orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and black yoga pants in record time and, slipping on my pearl bracelet, bounded out the door. Pulling out a crumpled piece of paper out of my pocket, I glanced quickly at my timetable: archery. I ran towards the target field, but thinking back to my dream, changed course.

I stopped at the dining pavilion to grab a quick snack and pocketed an apple. The scenery was beautiful, and I would have taken a moment to enjoy had I not been heading straight for lava dishwashing punishment. From here, you could see pretty much everything. On Half-Blood Hill Thalia's pine tree stood with the Golden Fleece glittering on its branches, magically protecting the camp from monsters. Our guard dragon, Peleus was so huge now so I could see him all the way up from here, curled around the tree, snoring and sending rings of smoke up in the air. The newly placed 40-feet tall Athena Parthenos glittered in the sunlight on its place next to Thalia's tree.

To my right spread the woods where we played capture the flag. Most of the trees there were evergreens, but other tress dotted the valley, their leaves ranging from gold, yellow and orange to dark red and crimson. On my left were the canoe lake and the climbing wall that glowed red from the lava pouring down its side as well as the original 12 cabins – one for each of the Olympians – which made the shape of a horseshoe, along with the new additions for the minor gods and goddesses. Farther south were the strawberry fields, the armory and the four-story sky blue Big House.

I needed to talk to Annabeth and Percy about my dream. They had been to Tartarus and back themselves just a couple months ago. I thought about going to the Big House, but then I remembered that they both had pegasus lessons right about now, so I decided to head over to the stables. Teeny problem: To get there I had to pass the Ares cabin.

As I approached the Cabin 5 I spotted Clarisse and a few of her siblings sitting down outside, sharpening their swords.

"Hey, guys," Clarisse said smugly. "Look who's coming."

Her siblings snickered and some of them muttered "Loser," Under their breath.

"Do I hear a gust of wind?" I said. "Oh, sorry Clarisse, but I can't seem to hear you. Can you speak a little louder?" Clarisse growled and I smiled. Last week we were having a particularly big argument and it ended in me putting a spell on her that prevented her from speaking for 24 hours. Best. Day. Ever.

"What's your problem, loser?"

"When are you going to come up with a more creative name? Loser's getting a but old."

"Hmmm…" She continued while tapping her chin with mock interest. "Ooh! I know! How about Undetermined Loser?"

I stopped short. The fact that I still hadn't been claimed was a definite sore spot, and Clarisse knew it. He siblings started chanting like cheerleaders at a soccer game, "Undetermined Loser! Undetermined Loser!"

I growled. This had gone far enough, but Clarisse just kept smiling knowingly at me. Gods of Olympus, I hated that girl.

On a normal day I would have pulled out my bow and arrow and pinned them all to trees without a second thought, but I was still pretty anxious about my dream. So much to Clarisse's annoyance I simply walked off and jogged toward the stables.

The cool autumn breeze ruffled my hair and leaves falling from nearby trees gathered together on the ground. Camp was my favourite place. I looked ahead to the training arena to see demigods in orange and purple shirts alike sparring and talking in groups, and I smiled. Since Reyna has transported the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood both Roman and Greek demigods had turned overnight from arch enemies to best friends.

It was a long walk to the stables, and the route passed almost all of the cabins. I passed Demeter's log cabin, which had stalks of wheat curling around the braches nearby. A few demigods were sitting just outside growing flowers and plants of every kind in the doorway. I stopped by the window to grab an apple from the fruit bowl that sat in the wondow sill, but just ended up holding my nose at the mass of fruit flies and continued on. For the Demeter kids, it was either all-natural or nothing. Usually nothing.

Next was Artemis's cabin, which was of course empty as she had no kids. The white stone glowed silver and a few deer were grazing near it. I also spotted the gloomy Hades cabin, also empty. It was constructed of black marble and torches lit the entryway. I also quickly stopped at the Hecate cabin, which was quite near the stables. It was made of grey stone but glowed rainbow and white Mist curled around the base. I looked inside and saw three demigods talking inside and playing with the Mist.

"Hey!" One of them called to me. A boy with red hair and freckles wearing a Camp-Half-Blood T-shirt stepped outside.

"Hey Calvin!" I called back.

"Any news yet?" He asked, referring to me being claimed but I just shook my head. "Don't sweat it," he said. "you're always welcome."

"Rachael!" A girl with brown curly hair done in a braid and a leather jacket yelled out. "Can you show me that 'no talking thing' you pulled on Clarisse?"

I grinned. "Maybe later Millicent!" I answered, continuing towards the stables. When I finally got there, Percy and Annabeth were both attending to a gloating Blackjack.

Just a little higher boss, Blackjack said. Right between the ears.

Oh, yeah, maybe I should explain. You see, since Percy was a son of Poseidon and all, he could talk to horses and most sea creatures. I had the same ability, which suggested I was a daughter of Poseidon, but I didn't really know. I couldn't control water or anything like that.

"Well, you sure are giving that horse a nice time," I said. Percy and Annabeth both whirled around in surprise but calmed down when they saw who it was.

"Rachael!" Annabeth scolded. "Where have you been? Aren't you supposed to be at archery lessons?"

"Yes, well, I needed to talk to you. I had a dream," I explained. Percy and Annabeth both nodded. They had their own dreams and understood what it was like.

Is this how it is? No, "Hi! How are you doing Blackjack?" Just continue right along and leave the horse behind. I grinned.

"Hi, Blackjack."

Hey boss, He said to Percy. I finally came up with a name for the other girl.

"Other girl?" I asked, smirking playfully. "No, 'how are you doing'?"

Sorry. Blackjack apologized. But listen. How about 'Bossette'? I grinned.

"Bossette," I repeated. "I like it. You're one smart pegasus." Blackjack swelled up with pride and neighed loudly.

"Don't enlarge his ego more than it already is," Percy joked.

Annabeth crossed her arms impatiently. "Well, if you guys are done, we've got a dream to talk about."

"Right," I said. After we sat down, I told them everything. Except for the chicken part of course. By the time I was finished, Annabeth's face was pale and even Percy looked shaken up.

"Well?" I asked. "Was it really Tartarus?"

Annabeth answered. "Yes. It was Tartarus. But that wasn't just any part of Tartarus. That was Night's realm. Or Nyx, depending on what you want to call her."

"Night?" Percy asked. "You can't be serious. Last time…"

I understood how he was feeling. Last July Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus and the only way to make it back to the mortal world was though the Doors of Death. Percy and Annabeth had managed to get past the army guarding the Doors by visiting Akhlys (Misery), who turned them into a grey mist, a state right between the dead and living. Afterwards, they had had to battle Night, and had barely made it out alive. Annabeth simply confused her for a few seconds and then they ran off to the Doors.

"Rachael," Annabeth began. "That cliff you were by, that wasn't just Night's realm. That was were Akhlys turned us into…you know…" I did know. That was where she had turned them into half dead skeletons so they could get past the Doors of Death.

"So that cliff was the edge between existence and uh…not existing," I guessed.

"Yes," Annabeth confirmed. "Night is the oldest goddess of them all, the mother of all terrors. The Fates themselves, Old Age, Pain, Death and all of the curses. The giants, the monsters, the Titans, she's the mother of them all."

"In other words, she is very, very old," Percy concluded.

"What I don't understand is how I dreamt of being there," I said.

"You must have been having help from someone. A god, maybe," Annabeth reasoned.

But there was one more thing that really worried me. I remembered the pulsing sound, shivering at just the thought of it. "One thing," I started. "The area beyond the cliff, it was...it seemed...alive." Annabeth and Percy each grew at least three shades paler.

"I was afraid of this," said Annabeth. "The defeat of Gaea has angered Night. Somehow, she herself must be stirring, along with all her children. I don't know how, because Night can only operate in places such as Tarturus. In order to be able to attack Earth, she must first cast darkness on it. How she plans to do it I don't know."

"Is there any good news?" Percy grumbled.

"Well," Annabeth started. "Night is powerful, but she can't rise on her own. She'll need help."

"Like the Titans?" I asked. "Or Giants? Please not Gaea again."

"No. It has to be something more powerful than the Greeks. What that something is I don't really know."


	8. Chapter 8

RACHAEL

Chapter 8

On my way to the arena, I thought about what Annabeth had said. Night herself rising? The entire Earth cast into darkness? Gaea and Kronos were bad enough but this…

Seriously, these monsters were thousands of years old. Couldn't they just take a break for a while and let me live my life? Apparently not.

Leo, Percy, Annabeth and I had already seen the others off, reminding them to Iris-message us if need be. I shook my head. I didn't want to think about that now. Instead my mind wandered into a topic I had discussed in my head for years: My parents.

I sighed as I ran through the list once again. Poseidon? Possible, since I could talk to horses and sea animals like Percy and the water boosted my strength, but I could in no way control water. Secretly, I hoped it wasn't. I mean, Poseidon is great and all, but my fear of swimming created plenty of room for doubt. Whatever kind of demigod I was, I wanted to be wholehearted about it. Something told me I wouldn't be a very good daughter of Poseidon if I was afraid of water. Zeus? Forget it. Hades? Uh…no thanks. Athena? Also possible, since I was a huge bookworm and most of my demigod friends sometimes forgot the fact that I was dyslexic. I also loved strategy and owls, which was Athena's sacred animal. But I didn't really like weaving. Hera was an easy one to rule out, since she didn't even have any demigod kids. Aphrodite I could strike out too. I had no care for makeup or beauty or boys; an opposite of the Aphrodite kids.

Moving on…Apollo? Could happen, as I am wonderful at archery as well as music, but…not so good at poems. Demeter? Nah, I liked nature, but I doubted I was a daughter of Demeter. Dionysius was a big no-no and so was Hermes. I don't steal. There was one possibility that seemed almost certain, and that was the fact I could be a daughter of Hecate, goddess of magic. The only thing about that was that monsters in the outside world had attacked me when I was only 11, but usually kids of the minor gods don't really attract many monsters till they get a lot older.

The problem was, the only way I would know for sure is if they claimed me. Which wasn't really happening. What was weird was that Percy had made the gods swear that they would claim all their demigod kids by the time they turned 13. I was 14 but…still no parents. I remembered Thalia, who knew she was a daughter of Zeus but couldn't fly or control the air like Jason, her brother could. She couldn't control the air or fly because she didn't believe she could. So what if I had hidden powers but I didn't know I had them?

I groaned. This was getting confusing.

As I neared the arena I spotted a group of centaurs trotting to the Big House. I picked up my pace and caught up with Chiron.

"Chiron!" I called out as I neared him.

He smiled. "Hello, Rachael? Something you wanted to ask me?"

"Kind of."

"Listen," He said. "I know you are scared about what is coming, but I have complete faith that you will pull through." He smiled and his brown eyes twinkled. I nodded. "And," He continued. "I have a feeling that you will play a big part in helping our camp." I nodded again and jogged over to the arena. Maybe Chiron wasn't allowed to intervene, but he still believed we could do this.

I was learning with the Hermes kids today, rather then the Athena demigods. I spotted the twins, Conner and Travis Stoll, who were organizing people into pairs for a sparring session. Conner and Travis weren't bad, but being the children of Hermes, the god of thieves, I had learned to keep one hand on my wallet while they were around. Also, the fact that their last name was 'Stoll' was a common joke.

"-And Rachael will be with me," Conner finished.

"Wait, what?" I asked.

"Sparring. Pairs. Go!" Travis yelled and pushed me into the center of the arena, which I didn't find very helpful. I automatically took out a dagger, since it was a sparring session and I obviously couldn't use Alexis, but Conner just shook his head.

"Come on, Rachael. We all know you're good at archery and with a dagger. Try a sword."

I grunted stubbornly. "Fine." I grabbed a Celestial Bronze sword and we began. We struck and parried, our blades clashing against each other's at record speed. I tried a disarming move, but Conner twisted his blade and my sword clattered to the ground. I had lost. I wasn't that upset, though. Sword fighting just wasn't really my thing.

"Next up," Travis shouted while glancing at a crumbled sheet of paper, "Robert and Ian!" I slipped out of the arena and headed back into the Athena cabin to shower and change, surprised to find Rachel sitting on my bed.

"Hi Rachael!" She said, waving to me.

I smiled. "How are you doing Rachel?"

Rachel was our Oracle, but wasn't a demigod, just a normal mortal but who could see through the Mist. We had this ongoing joke about our names being so similar, so whenever we talked we tried to incorporate our names in the sentence as much as possible to see if we could confuse ourselves.

"Fine, Rachael."

"But it's autumn. Shouldn't you be in school Rachel?"

"Yes, well, I needed to talk to you about something." I nodded, and we dropped the 'Rachael/Rachel' joke.

She scooted over to give me room and I sat down beside her.

"So what's up?" I asked.

She fidgeted in her seat "I've been having these visions…"

"-about Night?"

"How'd you know?"

"I've been having dreams too." I squirmed at the memory.

"I'm worried Rachael. Night herself…we barely survived Gaea."

"I know. There's something else too." I filled her in on what happened with Savvy. "I don't know what to do. Should I go after her?" Rachel was silent. "Rachel? Hello?" I turned to face her, but she had gone completely stiff. Green mist swirled around her. A prophecy? She opened her mouth and began:

A price to pay, shall end the light of day

Two halves must unite, through a window of light

The darkest shall rise, after tales of endless lies

Born in the shortest of twelve parts,

Alone to face the ones with no hearts

Rachel collapsed on my bed. My head was spinning. A prophecy? Why would there be a prophecy? Unless…was I meant to find Savvy? But prophecies had double meanings and it didn't always mean what you thought it did. Putting the thought aside for later, I tried to pick up Rachel, but she was too heavy for me. A daughter of Apollo, Nicole Fletcher strolled in and I called her over to help me.

"Woah, what happened?" She asked as we carried Rachel towards the infirmary.

My head spun. If it really was about Savvy then I didn't want to share the prophecy just yet so I simply said: "She banged her head on the bed frame pretty hard."

"Oh, okay," Nicole replied, not thinking anything. Thank the gods she wasn't a daughter of Athena.

When we got to the infirmary I spotted Chiron speaking to Mr.D, aka Dionysius, our camp director. He had been banished by Zeus to 100 years of training because he chased some 'off-limits' nature spirit. He was, as usual, wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt and shorts and yet again attempting to drink alcohol without the King of the Gods noticing.

"Robert Mondavi private selection, 12%. Care for some, Chiron?"

"Why do you insist on persisting, Dionysius?"

Mr.D poured himself a tall glass of the drink, but just as he was about to sip it turned from a brilliant shade of crimson to white.

"Blast this curse," grumbled Mr.D. Nicole and I walked in and placed Rachel down on an unoccupied bed.

"What happened?" Chiron asked, worriedly, hurrying over.

"She uh…" I hesitated. Lying was far from my strong suit, and Savvy had never been able to convince me that it was okay. She was different. She'd drag me into some crazy prohibited stunt and then make up an amazing story if we got caught while I just stood there stuttering. I couldn't lie. "…she banged her head on the bed frame," I managed finally.

Chiron looked at me wearily and I froze. Gods, why couldn't I lie?

But Chiron just nodded. "She might be out for a few minutes. Nicole, you may go now as I do believe you have canoeing lessons."

Nicole hurriedly ducked her head and ran out the room. For reasons unknown, she was terrified of Mr.D. I never understood why. Mr.D looked up at me as if just noticing I had entered the room, but said nothing.

Chiron took a deep breath. "No sign of head injury, and no trace of anything ever hitting her head. Are you sure that's what exactly happened Rachael?"

I knew it: he saw right through my lie. But I have to say it wasn't a very good one.

However I still continued. "Yes."

Mr.D looked up at me. "Do we look stupid to you Rebecca Steward?"

"Rachael Stone," I corrected.

"Whatever."

Chiron still eying me, I left the room. Thank the gods that was over. Chiron knew Rachel had spouted a prophecy, I was sure of it. But why hadn't he made me tell it to him? I shook my head. I needed to think.

Absentmindedly I made my way to the canoe lake. The afternoon sun shined brightly on the water, making it sparkle. I sat on a ledge covered in pebbles and took off my combat boots and socks and dipped my feet into the water. Immediately I felt awake again, my energy restored. The water always helped me concentrate, just like Percy. I didn't mind the water, but I was deathly afraid of swimming. It had taken me forever just to go down to the canoe lake. I shivered as I looked at the deep water in front of me. That was why I had never tried to control water; the idea terrified me. What if it backfired or something?

I thought back to the prophecy. I had mixed feelings about it. Rachel had spouted it just after I had asked her advice about going after Savvy. That couldn't be a coincidence. Despite the fact that Savvy was a mere mortal, I had to find her, no matter what. I had tons of friends at Camp Half-Blood, but Savvy was different. We had a sort of unique connection and I had shared with her things I had told few others.

However, at the same time I cringed with fear at the idea of facing yet another enemy, even darker and more foreboding than the previous. The thought made me want to crawl into a hole and sleep for a hundred years.

I sighed and slipped my feet loosely back into my shoes. I had a full hour before my next class, so I might as well practise. I headed over to the archery range and pulled out Alexis. Taking a deep breath, I nocked my first arrow. I held the end against my chin for a couple seconds and on exhale, I released. Carful not to jerk my bow, I watched my arrow plant itself firmly into the target and smiled. Dead center.

I shot another round of arrows, and after a while, lost myself in the practise. I could feel myself slip into another world, where there is nothing except the target and me. What seems like half an hour later I stopped quickly for a break and just held my bow and looked around. A light breeze ruffled my curly hair as it had been doing for some time now, but suddenly the wind switched direction and I felt the presence of some other creature, watching me. I gaze upwards briefly but saw nothing. Shaking my head, I resumed my training.

I will find Savvy. I will.

Some time later, I heard a conch horn blow in the distance and I jolted suddenly, causing the arrow I had just fired to land off-target. Judging from the position of the sun, it was way too early for dinner. So why was Chiron assembling the demigods? Perhaps he has found information about Savvy? Energized by this thought, I sprinted towards the dining pavilion.

I slid into a seat next to Percy and across from Leo and Annabeth, who all looked just as surprised as I was. The other demigods slowly trailed in and sat down, each of them chattering nervously.

"What's going on?" I asked to no one in particular.

Annabeth shrugged. "Maybe Chiron just wants to discuss some things."

As if on cue, Chiron stepped up. "I am fully aware," he began, "that this gathering is out of ordinary, but I do feel that it is appropriate to come together to discuss recent events."

I immediately stiffened. I knew what must happen next, so I walked to the center of the building, next to where Chiron stood and began my story yet again. It pained me to repeat it so lost of meaning, and I stuttered when it came to the part about Savvy disappearing into the light. Percy and Annabeth didn't say anything about Night and neither did I. No use scaring the camp until we know exactly what's going on.

Chiron sent me back to my seat and I sat down glumly. Katie Gardner, the counsellor of the Demeter cabin called out, "Should we send out some satyrs to look for Savvy?"

"No," Chiron said. "We do not know where she has gone so there is not much we can do now."

I couldn't stand it anymore. This 'mere mortal' was beyond their worry and they had more 'important' things to attend to. The idea disgusted me. Like it or not, Savvy was my best friend and I would find her. "I can go and take a couple other demigods with me," I suggested, trying to keep my voice steady.

"No" is all Chiron said.

At this simple and uncaring reply, I pretty much exploded. "But I must go!"

"Rachael calm down," Percy said, grabbing my wrist.

"I will not calm down!" I yelled, pulling my hand away. "I want to go find her!"

"Racha-" Leo tried.

"Shut up FireBoy!"

"Rachael," Chiron started. "You cannot go on a quest to find Savannah."

"And why not?"

"Because we need you here," he said.

I remember the prophecy and by now I'm almost sure that it means I have to go after Savvy. But I promised to myself I wouldn't tell anyone yet so there is nothing I can do. "Fine." I said, defeated. But I already started making plans to sneak out. Maybe after it gets dark I could sneak one of the pegasus…

I glanced up and was surprised to fine the sun low in the sky. Had that much time really passed? Chiron must have noticed the same thing because he quickly summed up and announced dinner.

I switched to my place at the Athena table and sat silently eating my food for a few minutes.

"Rachael can guard the flag with me," Annabeth said, snapping me out of my faze.

I perked up. "What? What are we talking about?"

Annabeth frowned. "It's Friday. We have Capture the Flag today. Didn't you know?" I shook my head. So many things had been going on lately I had completely forgotten. All the campers lined up by the fire to offer a portion of their food to the gods, particularly their parents. Since I didn't know who my parents were I always did a general offering but mostly for Athena, Apollo, Poseidon and especially Hecate, which were the most likely possibilities. After we sat down we continued discussing strategies for Capture the Flag. Ares and Athena were the captains this time.

"So who have we made alliances with?" I asked. During the war games, campers were allowed to trade privileges, shower times, chore schedules and good activity times in order to gain support.

"Well so far it's us, the Hephaestus cabin and the Poseidon cabin." I grinned. At least we'd have Percy on our side. "I think we also have Demeter," Annabeth continued. "Oh, an uh…Rachael," Annabeth whispered, leaning in closer to me so we could not be heard. "Leo and I Iris-messaged the others to fill them in."

"Good," I said. Annabeth pushed back and we resumed the topic of the war games.

One of Annabeth's siblings, Christina added, "And Aphrodite, but I don't see how they're going to help. All they do is hang out by the lake and stare at their reflections. Pretty much everyone else is on the Ares team with Clarisse." The three of us glanced towards the Ares table. The dozen kids there were buff and looked like a well-oiled tem of rugby players. A couple kids were arm wrestling and Clarisse herself was toying with her electric spear.

"She got another spear?" I asked.

"Yep," Annabeth answered, smiling playfully. "Her third one now."

I smirked. Percy had snapped Clarisse's first spear in half and I had contributed by driving an arrow through her second. "Clarisse will be looking for revenge," I said.

Christina spoke up. "On the topic of strategy, we were thinking Annabeth would guard the flag close up and you would be waiting in the trees some seventy feet away." I nodded. It sounded good to me. "The Hephaestus kids will be launching a head on attack and will be setting some traps around where we're going to put the flag. A few Demeter kids and I will scout around for their flag and the rest of the Athena kids will sneak around the back and snatch it."

"Percy can defend using the river," I added.

"The rest of the Demeter and Aphrodite kids are guarding the border," Annabeth said. Once dinner had finished, Chiron cleared his throat to gather everyone's attention.

"Now," Chiron said, "It is war games day so we are playing Capture the Flag. You all know the rules. The creek is the boundary line and the entire forest if fair game. All magic items are allowed and the banner must be properly visible. The flag may have no more then two guards, one at least ten feet away from the flag and only at least sixty feet away. Prisoners may be disarmed, but not bound or gagged. No killing or maiming allowed," He glanced pointedly at the Ares kids at this but then continued. "I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" At this Chiron spread his hands and the tables were filled with weapons and armor. Everyone rushed forward and grabbed equipment.

I already had my bracelet with my bow and arrow so I strapped on my armor and armed myself with five knives: one hidden in each of my combat boots, one in my right sleeve and the other two simply strapped to my belt.

Annabeth yelled. "Red Team! Forward!" We cheered and hiked toward the north side of the woods, and the blue team towards the south.

Everyone scattered, taking his or her positions. The Hephaestus kids quickly set traps around our banner and rushed to their hiding point. Percy hid by the river, ready to bend the water to his will. Annabeth crouched behind a rock about ten feet from the flag and I hiked for a while, looking for a suitable tree. I decided on a forty feet tall oak and climbed. Taking out Alexis, I hid in the branches.

Far away, a conch horn blew. I heard kids yelling and metal clanking, but stayed firmly in my spot. It wasn't ten minutes before I heard a small group, maybe three or four walking towards our flag. They broke through the bushes near where I was waiting and I spotted four Ares demigods: Clarisse was leading three of her siblings.

I smiled. It was time for revenge. This was going to be a very interesting war games.


	9. Chapter 9

SAVVY

Chapter 9

I dove straight between the god's legs as he brought his spear down. Where I was standing a split-second ago was a me-sized crater in the dirt.

He swung his spear around as I ducked, his weapon inches away from my head. My battle instincts were a thousand times sharper, like it had been tuned. The only upside about battling a twenty foot tall giant was that his weapon had been fashioned for someone his size, and I was too small for him. I wondered why he didn't just snap his fingers and turn me into cereal like he promised, but I had a feeling he was just playing with me.

"Carter? Where are you?" I heard Sadie's voice. It was pretty faint, but she was close.

I had to make a plan. Carter was still out cold, and would not be of any help. Sadie was nearby, but I had absolutely no idea where. Me? I was facing off Neper himself. If only he had a weak spot, but it seemed that every inch of him was covered with impenetrable armor.

His bare foot came up, and I got an idea as I once again was forced to dive away. If I could just get him to lift up his unprotected foot again…

I wove around his feet, ducking and diving. For once, luck was on my side; nothing hit me, though I was scraped and bruised from hitting the ground. He gave a roar of annoyance and tried to squash me with his feet. I waited until his foot was hovering directly atop me before I threw Thorn up and rolled to the side. I heard rather than saw as Thorn stuck into his flesh, and as he brought his foot down to the ground I felt a pang in my chest as I heard the crunch of wood which meant that Thorn had been broken.

Neper howled. He shook his right foot back and forth, and I ducked as pebbles of golden blood rained down around me. Then he turned and limped towards me, a fiery glow in his eyes, wincing at every step. I backed up fast, and tripped, eyes darting wildly for escape and breathing fast. Neper raised his spear.

No weapon. No plan. Cornered. I was dead, and I knew it.

Seems like the gods disagreed with me, because suddenly, Sadie appeared, at the edge of the clearing. I yelled "HERE!" desperately as her eyes swept the clearing and took in everything that was going on in a millisecond— Carter out cold, me, backed up with no weapon, and a god, who was in immense pain, probably because my broken dagger was still sticking into the flat of his foot.

Moving with lightning speed, she threw something at Neper. I saw the object roll to a stop. It was a crudely made statue.

She reached into a workbag and pulled out a plain wooden rod, which expanded into a two-meter long red and black staff with the head of a lion. She raised it and started to chant. Neper turned around, eyes widening in shock as he took in Sadie.

Sadie and the staff began to glow. At first I couldn't hear what she was saying, but as I listened, suddenly everything clicked and I could understand everything.

"You are a great enemy," she chanted, "and a curse upon the land. Deserving no mercy, an enemy of Ma'at, you are exiled beyond the earth."

The ugly statue cracked open, and light poured forth, forming tendrils around a moaning Neper, binding him tight and sapping his life force. The blinding white was covering him, overpowering him. With a jolt, I realized he was going to be sucked into the abyss, created by the statue. I turned my head as the light burned my corneas.

"NOOO!" cried Neper. "You will never get me!"

I blinked the light spots out of my eyes as I watched Neper. With a cry, the light was blasted off him, and the little statue shuddered and cracked open. The air was rippling, shifting apart to reveal another dark whirlwind. It was completely black, the darkest thing I've ever seen. Neper half-stepped into the whirlwind and… disappeared.

He was gone. I felt like crying from shock and relief, as I tried to calm myself down. He was gone.

Sadie rushed towards us. "Are you OK?"

"What was that?" My voice broke as I said, "What just happened?"

To my surprise, Sadie shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I mean, I tried to cast an execration spell and trap him in the statue, but he somehow threw my magic off using some dark magic of his own." I saw that she looked exhausted, and was sweating. "That was some powerful magic, it sapped all my energy. I can only perform minor spells now. How's Carter?"

"He got knocked out." I replied, staring down at his snoring figure. "Was he really a god?" I asked, fearing the answer.

"Last I checked." Sadie looked impressed as she glanced at me. "I can't believe you managed to hold him off. With no magic, even, and Carter lying all useless as usual. In fact, I saw something in his heel. Was that some kind of weapon?"

I nodded, wiping my eyes quickly. "My dagger. I'm not good at fighting close range, but it's the only thing I've got."

Sadie didn't ask me where I got Thorn, and I didn't say, but in truth? I stole it, like I stole about one third of my stuff (which isn't very much, as I barely have anything I can call my own). I found it lying around in an ancient antique shop, and before I could stop myself I was out the door, the dagger in my jacket. It's the only thing I don't regret pocketing, I desperately needed a weapon, and this was the only thing that actually injured monsters. Actually, I have a feeling someone left it there for me because I doubt the old lady who owned the antiques shop sold dangerous weapons regularly. Also, I never found anything else that worked on monsters, though from personal experience, I find that a well-aimed shoe can give one a nice big headache.

The staff in Sadie's hand shrunk into the wooden rod again, and she pushed it into the workbag, rummaged around and pulled out… a Dora the Explorer water bottle.

Yep. Dora the Explorer. It had a smiley face drawn out of black marker, and I half-expected her to drink from it, but instead she said very clearly, "We're 100 miles outside Buffalo, just next to Highway 97. We need a ride, but Freak will do. Carter's kind of injured, and… well, just send over someone. See you."

Then she very calmly started drinking from the water bottle. Screwing back on the cap, she held it away from her and let go. It vanished.

"Just sending a message to the Brooklyn House," Sadie said in answer to my expression. "Whoever's on duty will get it. I'm quite brilliant at making shabti, if I say so myself. Basically, this Shabti are walking and talking statues—statues that will do anything of your bidding, of course. Doughboy there, the driver—" she pointed her thumb in the direction of the car—"He was my dad's."

"What happened to him?"

The question was out of my mouth before I could stop myself. I'm sorry to admit I've quite a big mouth.

Sadie's expression soured. "I see him and Mom sometimes. Very, very rarely. You?"

"I don't have any parents." Of course, I had to give away everything. I realized too late.

Sadie raised her eyebrows. "Your dad was driving you into the city."

"A lie." I admitted openly.

Sadie opened her mouth, probably to demand everything to know about me, but thankfully Carter groaned at the moment, distracting me.

"Carter?" Sadie's hands fluttered over his body, not sure what to do. I could hear the panic and worry in her voice.

"Uggrabugga…" Carter moaned. Sadie looked tremendously relieved.

"Carter, you nutter," said Sadie. "Why are you always trying to be a hero?"

As Sadie attacked Carter, I squinted at the horizon. A black speck caught my eye. I frowned as it appeared to grow larger, too large to be a normal sized bird, or even an eagle at that rate. It was coming straight for me.

"Aaaargh!" I yelled as I dove to the side. A second later the thing (now bigger than me and the size of a horse) landed. It had the body of a lion, and —get this— the head of a falcon! I am getting so sick of falcons…

Its fur was the colour of rust, and its huge wings spread out on either side of it as it landed. A figure wearing camouflage clothes slid off its back. She shook back her hair, and revealed kohl-ed eyes and sharp but pretty features. She was wearing camouflage cargo pants, combat boots, and an olive tank top that flattered her coppery skin. She would have pulled off a demeaning and mysterious act if not for the fact that she looked slightly green.

"Never again, Sadie," The girl said faintly.

I was dumbfounded, but Sadie looked positively delighted. "Zia! Talk about fast!"

"I got your message right away," shrugged Zia, holding up the shabti Dora the Explorer water bottle, which was struggling feebly. "It started attacking me once it finished reciting your message, which made me hurry up. What's wrong with Carter?" She looked really worried as she kneeled over Carter. Obviously, she was close to him personally.

"He's been conked out, Zia, he'll be fine," Sadie said, miffed that her shabti had not proven as brilliant as she had said. Apparently, she also knew Zia from wherever she was from. She glanced at me staring at the creature. "Oh, that's just Freak. He's a griffin, and he's usually our ride."

Zia stared at me like she's just spotted me. "Maybe you could bring me up to date, Sadie?"

"This is Savvy, Zia. Honestly, I have no idea who she is, but she gave us a hand with our friend back there, and it's rather obvious she's one of us. Savvy, Zia. She helps us train in the Brooklyn House."

"Friend back there?" Zia inquired.

"Tell you later, along with everyone else," Sadie replied.

Zia was staring at me like she could pierce through me with her scorching brown eyes. I stared defiantly back. Finally, she turned to Sadie and said, "She is a magician, I think. Untrained, definitely, and unaware of her powers, likely so."

"She is more," insisted Sadie. "Something about her… she held off a god all by herself, and well," Sadie looked over at me, and I was shocked to see reluctant impress.

"'She' is standing right next to you," I muttered. Zia studied me as if about to decide my fate. Sadie looked as if waiting for her decision. I shifted uncomfortably, avoiding their eyes. It must have been the first time strangers spend so much attention on me.

Then, Zia shifted her gaze to Sadie. "Amos had something crop up, he needs me right away," she said. "I don't think you and your brother can continue with your mission anymore, anyways, so I could take you and Carter to the First Nome. If we drop her off at the Brooklyn House, that's going to take too long though."

"So we'll drag her to the First Nome," Sadie glanced at me. "Then we'll bring her to the Brooklyn House after staying overnight, and she can start her training."

Freak, the griffin, gave a loud "FREAK!"

"I… am more than a little confused," I said trying to tear my eyes away as Zia reached into her sack and toss Freak a couple of dead mice, which he promptly tore apart. "Now would be a good time to start explaining, before you 'drag'—" my fingers formed quotation marks around the word "— me to… wherever you're going."

Sadie sighed noisily, but Zia straightened up and faced me. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, who exactly are you guys?"

"Magicians. Descendants from certain families have the ability perform Egyptian magic," said Zia. "We used to train to fight gods, but… well, it's a long story. So now, anyways, we work alongside them. Well," Zia corrected herself, "we worked alongside them, but after the last battle, they were banished into the Duat, along with the god of Chaos, Apophis."

"Uhhhhh…"

"Giant snake would 'bout sum it up," said Sadie. "But Zia, that's the problem. The gods are back."

"What? No! You were there. You saw them go. They can't appear in the mortal world any longer. "

"Rubbish. I mean, it's true I saw them go, but Neper is back," Sadie insisted. "He's the patron of harvest and the god of…"

"Yes, yes, god of wheat, barley, and grain. I know."

"Of course you do." Sadie rolled her eyes. "We'll talk about it with Amos, when Carter revives."

I shook my head. "None of this makes sense."

"We train at the Brooklyn House, Savvy," continued Sadie. "The First Nome is headquarters for all magicians, the oldest branch of the House of Life. The initiates at the Brooklyn House train to follow paths of gods. We try to stop evil whenever possible. We're going to the First Nome now, on Freak here." She attempted in vain to lug Carter onto Freak the griffin, but he just rolled over and gave a snore.

I swayed as my brain tried to process the information. "This is all… a little hard… to…"

"Take in?" Sadie panted. "Here, I'll show you…"

She dropped Carter with an "Oomph!" and said, "_" (lift in Egyptian)

Golden lines burned, hanging in the air, forming shapes and pictures— hieroglyphics. Mesmerized, I somehow understood the hieroglyphics for the word lift.

As if attached to a hundred imaginary strings, Carter slowly rose into the air, his head flopping onto his chest as he hovered over Freak. Suddenly, like all the strings had been cut, he fell onto Freak's back as the Egyptian hieroglyphics faded. I stared.

"Well? Hop up," Sadie called as she clambered onto Freak's back. I swung my foot onto his back as well, gripping his sleek and slippery feathers in a death grip hold.

Zia, however, had other means of transport. She gripped her amulet (one of the many) and closed her eyes. In a few second a large vulture appeared from the middle of nowhere and swooped down, its talons gripping her shoulders. When I looked up at her retreating figure, I saw her tightly squeezing her eyes shut and muttering under her breath.

"Zia doesn't like using her amulet," Sadie remarked. "But there's no space on Freak. I'd rather get carried as well, honestly. Freak is a little…"

"Freaky?" I managed weakly.

Sadie laughed. "We'll be traveling through the Duat, now. It's the fastest way to the Cairo airport."

"The what?" I called as Freak gave one last "FREAK!" and spread out his wings. In a second, we were in the air.

For future references, traveling through this "Duat" thing would not be one of your preferred transportation means. Freak moved with astounding speed. My vision blurred, and we were swallowed in a thick fog. Strange sounds echoed from the dark; faint screaming, slithering, hissing, whispers that I couldn't quite catch. Actually, I felt like I was on a roller coaster, and I love the feeling. I couldn't help myself as I gave a loud whoop.

I closed my eyes tightly as we sped up. My stomach was protesting, and the sounds blocked my ears. Suddenly, I felt Freak slow down and start descending.

We were in a completely different place. A warm mugginess made my hair stick to my forehead. It was almost dark which meant a different time zone. I looked down to see tall buildings, a bustling city. Yet this wasn't anywhere I have ever been.

I didn't trust myself to talk until Freak landed right outside a building. You would think somebody would notice a flying creature land in the middle of your path, but people everywhere didn't notice us. Their eyes skirted right past us, and they walked right around us without seeing us.

Zia was waiting for us. Her vulture had disappeared. "We're in Cairo, Egypt." She told me. "We're right outside the Cairo airport."

Sadie pointed at Carter's limp body and said, "Follow". Carter' body rose into the air again and hung there.

"You may leave now, Freak, thanks," Sadie said. Freak cawed and took to the air.

"How come no one can see Freak?"

"Manipulation. Mortals see what they want to see," Sadie said. "Come along." She pulled me into the building. Carter followed as if like a marionette, his feet trailing on the ground.

I could tell straight away that we were in an airport even without Zia pointing that out. There were shops, windows and polished steel columns. People bustled past wearing headscarves, robes, or clothes of different nationalities.

"Um." I looked around. "I thought we were going to headquarters of some sort."

"We are." Zia answered, grabbing my arm and pulling me through the crowd. Sadie followed closely, Carter dragging behind. When it was obvious none of them would offer answers, I tried again.

"This is an airport."

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

I sighed. Those two were as helpful as Rachael when she is immersed in a book. With a pang, I realized I hadn't thought about Rachael in a long time. I hadn't even given any thought to Beth. Ananya and the rest of the school— what had happened to them? But Rachael and the rest would have to wait.

I followed… no, I was dragged through a maintenance door. On the other side was a broom closet. Zia placed her hand on the door, muttering the words "Sahad" and the image of a closet door shimmered and disappeared, revealing a set of stone steps.

"These are the uncovered ruins of Heliopolis." Zia said. "Follow closely, and don't touch anything."

Sadie rolled her eyes again. "Zia, you're way too serious. The First Nome is fun. Let's go, shall we?"

The stone steps went on forever. We crouched and crawled our way through the passageway and ended up on the edge of a chasm. A wooden plank led the way across.

"This is the entrance to the First Nome. Every magician must unbar the path for themselves. The challenge is different for each supplicant." Zia looked at me pointedly.

I gulped. I felt vulnerable without Thorn by my side.

I stepped onto the plank. Nothing happened.

I put one foot ahead of me carefully as I inched my way across. At the very middle, I looked back at Sadie and Zia.

"I…" I started when suddenly, a blanket of chilling fog rose from the void. It rose and swirled around me. I couldn't see Sadie or Zia any longer. Every breath I took rattled as I sucked in the fog.

I yelled as the fog covered me completely. Objects I couldn't discern were flying everywhere. I could hear strange and distant sounds, like screams, laughter, and whispers. The plank was shuddering. The building was rumbling. I dropped down and grabbed hold of the plank with two hands, my heart pounding.

It was chaos, and I couldn't do anything about it. In a case of emergency, I would very calmly start forming plans, but I couldn't think. I needed order. The words from the quote ran through my mind. Nothing gives a person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

I took a deep, shuddering, calming breath, and yelled the first thing that came to my mind: "Ma'at!"

A hieroglyph appeared in front of me, burning gold, shining through the eternal fog. The plank stopped shaking, objects stopped flying around me. The room became still. I focused on that one hieroglyph, channeling my energy into it. I could feel my insides, my very soul start to literally burn up. Coughing and gasping, I crawled the last few metres and collapsed onto the other side of the plank.

I heard faint yelling and footstep, and raised my head slightly to see two blurry figures cross the chasm and kneel down by me.

"That has never ever happened before." Zia's voice was laced with awe. "Nobody has ever responded to a challenge like that… I've never seen anything like it."

"You used the most powerful divine word, Savvy!" Sadie shook her head. "Ma'at means Order. You've created Order in the face of Chaos! I've only been able to use it once, after loads of training, and then I bloody well nearly died. Are you alright?"

I stiffly got to my feet. "I'll be fine." But now that I said it, I felt waves of exhaustion and hunger threaten to overcome me. My legs shook standing up.

I couldn't believe I knew the hieroglyph for Order. But now that I thought about it, the word Ma'at had come as easily as my name, like it had been hiding at the back of my mind all this time. But that was stupid! I've never heard of the word before.

"You're probably feeling a little peaky at the moment," Sadie said. "It's a result of a big spell. You shall have to restore your energy." I leaned against her as she led me through the doorway. Carter was still out cold, and he trailed behind, occasionally scraping the ceiling.

I was so stunned walking through what happened next I kept silent. It was a vast city of halls and chambers. Every chamber was lined with massive brightly painted stone columns, and I got the feeling we were many miles underground. Fires burned in braziers, and although they didn't give off any smoke, the aroma smelled of spices. There were many other people. Some looked like they would never in a million years fit in that scene, like people in business suits, but there were others in linen robes. There was a little army of brooms, mops, and buckets that went around cleaning up the city with a man following around, yelling orders. There were tons of statues around, and we even walked through an open air market at the time, with stalls selling staffs, clay shabti, linen robes, papyrus scrolls and amulets.

We crossed a bridge over a river teeming with dark fish, with sharp teeth. I decided not to ask what kind of fish they were.

We also passed another building. Sadie poked my arm and pointed inside to reveal rows of children sitting cross-legged on cushions. They all had bags at their side, and a glance revealed staff rods and boomerang objects sticking out. They were fashioning a figure out of clay. Shabti. In another room, there were children staring into bowls of liquid and muttering incantations.

"Those are younger initiates, learning how to scry. They see images in the oil, and we use some children as our operators to keep in contact with other Nomes all over the world." Sadie muttered.

"They're really young," I said. They ranged in age from six to ten.

"Well, initiates don't start combat training until ten years of age. The younger ones have more receptive minds, so they do our scrying, and they learn how to make shabti and amulets."

We kept going until we were facing a pair of heavy, massive bronze doors with fire blazing on either side.

Zia pressed her hands to the seal on the doors, which bore an image. Looking closely, I saw it was the Per Ankh, the House of Life. It was one of the hieroglyphics we had learned for fun in the MACC classes.

The hieroglyphics glowed brightly, and the doors swung open slightly.

"Come," Zia said. "We are about to enter the Hall of Ages. Do not touch anything, unless you wish to die."


	10. Chapter 10

SAVVY

Chapter 10

The Hall of Ages was exactly the same place I'd seen Horus. However, there were two differences; one, this was real life, and two, everything was much clearer. The fiery orbs were there, and so were the blue Egyptian hieroglyphics, but I noticed them much better.

But the weirdest of all were the images on either side of me. Like before, they were moving, shifting, transforming, and blurring, but they were in sharper focus. The first twenty feet of the Hall of Ages, I recognised the era as the beginning of the world. The sun rose, blazing across the ocean. A mountain emerged. Islands cracked and drifted apart. Giant walked across the landscape, along with a man with black skin and the head of a jackal, and a woman with multi-coloured, shimmering wings. It was Isis.

I didn't notice me step off the carpet, walking towards the pictures, but Zia tugged my jacket back.

"I said, don't touch anything!" She hissed. "These are the Age of the Gods. It's not wise to dwell on such images."

"They're only pictures, Zia," I protested.

"They're not only pictures. They're memories. Memories so powerful they can rip your mind apart."

I very wisely decided to stay on the carpet.

As we went along, the images changed colours to a blazing shade of silver. Egyptian armies raged, a king became crowned, workers at work building the first pyramid. I recognized it as the Great Pyramid as I watched as thousands knelt before the pharaoh, Khufu, who raised his arms to the sun and dedicated the pyramid as his own.

As the images turned copper, then bronze, temples were built, wars raged, magicians dueled, and the House of Life came into power. Hatshepsut, the greatest female pharaoh, reigned with a fake beard. Ramesses the Great led his armies to battle. Nectanebo II, standing over a table of battle figurines, creating, destroying and moving armies and navies by moving pieces on the board.

Looking back, I was glad that I had studied so earnestly about Egypt. The information served me greatly.

The images turned blue, the Ptolemaic times. I watched wide-eyed as Alexander the Great charged into battle with his great army, conquering Egypt. The last battle was when Romans marched into the Egyptian city of Alexandria. A woman dropped a snake into her blouse. With another jolt, I remembered her as Cleopatra when I was poring over one of Shakespeare's plays one day. She was the last in the line of pharaohs.

In the red zone of images, history began to turn more modern. It was the Arabs now that stormed Egypt, then the Turks, then Napoleon and his French army. The British arrived and the Suez Canal was constructed. The city started to look more like the modern day Cairo in every step.

Then I saw something weird in the last few steps — a giant serpent in a land of demons, armies of gods and goddesses fighting against demons. I saw the snake swallow a fiery glowing figure. I saw a girl and a boy hold up a figurine and start to chant. The snake's head erupted as the fiery figure stepped out again, alive and whole. Then, people were celebrating, and a king was crowned.

I reluctantly tore my eyes from the images when we came to a stop. I didn't notice we had reached the end.

The dais where Horus was at before was empty. There was nobody there. I wondered if Zia and Sadie were feeling quite ok, but they just kept going. They walked straight to the back wall behind the throne and pushed it, to reveal a secret room behind. Poor Carter's head got rather badly bumped on the doorway. I would rather follow the weird people than stay behind in some creepy hall, so I quickly hurried after them.

On the other side was a sort of war room. There was a large table inlaid with a full-colour world map. The surface was crowded with tiny figurines— painted cities, monsters, magicians, obelisks (a stone pillar that was kind of a landmark), cars, temples, and markers with hieroglyphs on them.

There was on person in the room, a man around forty, wearing linen robe and a little bit round in the middle. He had dark skin and cool hair— his braided locks were decorated with gold beads. He wore round glasses, and was so intently engrossed with the map that he jumped when Zia cleared her throat.

"Uncle Amos!" Sadie cried as she barrelled past me and threw her arms around the man. Carter crashed to the floor and groaned.

Amos looked stunned. "Sadie! Zia! Wonderful! But what's wrong with Carter?"

"He's sort of out cold. It's a long story." Sadie replied. She noticed me hanging around the edge of the room, uncomfortable (what a surprise), and said, "Uncle, this is Savannah Hughes. Savvy, this is my uncle Amos, the steward of Chief Lector."

"Savannah, eh?" Amos studied me.

"Savvy," I responded for like the fifth time today.

"Nice to meet you, Savvy. But Sadie, weren't you on a mission to find Setne and deliver him to your father? I only called for Zia, not you two."

"We got sidetracked," was Sadie's reply.

Amos raised his eyebrows. "Sidetracked?"

And so the story was told. We started from when I was picked up by Carter and Sadie. I explained what happened during the time Sadie was in the wheat field, and how Carter had fought Neper. I told them how I broke Thorn. I tried to make it sound like nothing, but judging from Sadie and Zia's looks they were deeply impressed.

Amos's face, however, had slipped into a deep frown as the story continued. "And you're sure this man was the Neper? You're sure Neper is actually back?"

"He was twenty feet tall, uncle, and he performed wheat magic," Sadie said patiently. "No magician would want to learn wheat magic."

"But what does that mean?" I cut in. "I'm confused— you said that the gods are gone."

"They're supposed to be," Amos replied. "When Apophis, the god of Chaos, was banished, the other gods are forced to retreat into the Duat as well. Such is the balance of the Universe."

"The Duat?" My voice, along with my face, was blank.

"Think of it as an ocean under our feet," Zia explained. "It had layers and layers of dimensions going down forever. The gods reside in the Duat, but occasionally they could come up to the mortal world. We live on the very surface. We travelled here through the Duat, but we only submerged bellowed its surface."

"So if the gods are back then…" My voice trailed off.

Amos nodded. "Apophis would return."

"But what's really wrong with Apophis?" I asked.

Sadie made a face. "He's an evil god, the evilest. He intended to destroy the world and make it into a big, soupy bowl of Chaos, as it was before Order was created. He tried to do that again last time, but we managed to perform an execration spell by destroying his shadow, his shuet, and in doing so we cut his connection to the mortal world. He shouldn't be able to rise again."

I suddenly realized something. "You're the one. In the image." When I felt three pairs of eyes on me, blushed and said, "I mean, you and Carter. You were chanting a spell. Carter was crowned the pharaoh! And you," I looked at Zia. "You were the glowing person, weren't you?"

"Yes," Zia said. "I was hosting the king god, Ra. He's the sun god, which is why I was glowing. I was swallowed by Apophis, but I…"

"Exploded his head?" I offered.

She laughed. "You could say that. But I am not hosting Ra any longer— he has also retreated from the mortal world, with all the other gods."

"Then why? Why is Neper back? Shouldn't he be in the Duat as well?" I asked. There was silence.

"Maybe we should ask you some questions about yourself first," Amos said. "For example, where did you come from?"

I hesitated. I didn't really want to lie. "I'm an orphan." I didn't exactly answer his question, but I didn't lie either. "I've met monsters before, but not gods."

Zia nodded. "That sounds normal. Egyptian monsters are attracted to magicians. You're lucky you survived this long. Do you know anything about your parents?"

I shook my head.

Sadie sighed. "Thanks for making this so much harder. How are we supposed to trace your bloodline? If we knew their names, we could figure out which magician family you belong too. Though I suppose we don't really need to."

I colored. "I don't like talking about my parents, ok?"

"We should wake Carter." Zia broke in. I noticed her expression changed when she looked at Carter, it became softer, more tender. "Amos, can you…?"

"Certainly, my girl." He placed a hand on Carter's forehead, and said, "Ohwi-eer."

Blue lines traced his way on Carter's forehead, forming a hieroglyph. Awaken.

Carter gasped, and his eyes flew open. "Neper!"

"Relax, my dear boy. He is gone; you are in the Hall of Ages." Amos assured him.

Carter sat up suddenly, looking around wildly. When he saw Zia, he blushed and stammered.

"How are you feeling, Carter?" Zia asked gently.

"Fine. Great." Carter said. "Amos, we just saw…"

"Neper, yes." Sadie said. "He's gone now, Carter."

And then the story was repeated all over again to Carter, starting from when he got knocked out. When we finished, he exclaimed, "But if Neper is back…"

"Apophis might be," Amos finished off wearily. "Yes, we were discussing that. But unfortunately, we cannot be sure Apophis is back. Only one god has returned, not all of them would return at once. Some take longer. And Apophis did have his shadow banished; I doubt he would come back sooner than the other gods."

It seemed to me like Amos was trying to reassure himself more than any other.

"Well anyways," Zia said. "Why did you want me to come here in the first place?"

In response, Amos pointed at one of the figurines. Looking closely, I saw it to be a monster, a demon. "We've found the Set animal; it's in New York City. We have detected him to be in Manhattan, at one of the hotels in the area. It's disguised as a maid."

"Not the Set animal again!" Carter exclaimed. "I thought I locked him in a locker." (don't ask me what this means)

"It seems that someone's set him loose in Manhattan, someone who's bent on using him to his advantage."

"Uncle Vinnie," Sadie growled. To my expression, she explained, "He's a ghost, a double crosser, a cunning bloke who's bent on taking over the gods. He died a really long time ago, but he's cheated death loads of times. Last time, he said he'd help us retrieve the Book of Overcoming Apophis, but he tried to kill us. He's in hiding, but we know he's up to something."

"We thought we'd picked up his trail in Buffalo, but we got sidetracked just now. He's probably long gone by now." Carter added.

"The Set animal is precisely the reason I have called for Zia's help. As a more experienced magician, I'm sure she would be up for the job. I was going to have her bring along some of the other initiates to make a team, but if you, Carter, and Sadie here would like to go along instead…"

Sadie grinned. "This monster won't know what will hit it, hey, Carter?"

"I was also thinking you could bring your friend, I mean… I think you should bring along Walt, but as I can't contact him at the moment—"

"Well yes, he's in Russia, gathering more magicians." I noticed Sadie's face had turned pink at the mention of Walt. "A lot of those Russians still believe Jacobi had the right idea… Sarah Jacobi was one of the puppets of Apophis," She said to my puzzled expression. "She rallied loads of Russian magicians to fight us, but she's gone — she died in battle."

"I think we should bring Savvy along, actually," Carter said. "It'd be a chance to see her perform magic and determine what kind of magician she is. It would be fun, like an initiation ceremony… only if you'd like to go, of course," he added hastily.

"Sign me up," I said instantly. A chance to battle a monster without having to be surprised by one? What fun! "Are we going now?"

"First you must train," Zia said, and I was relieved, as I was exhausted after speaking the divine word. "We'll stay hereor at the Brooklyn house for about a week, then we'll go, when you're ready. We should get some sleep; we're too tired to go now. It's getting late, anyways. After we go tomorrow, we'll go back to the Brooklyn House, agreed?"

"Yep, definitely." Carter said, and then blushed again.

Zia leaned over and gave Carter a quick peck on the cheek, while Sadie pointedly looked the other way. "I'm off to bed. See you." She smiled at Carter and left through another door.

"C'mon, Savvy, I'll show you where you sleep," Sadie said. "Sweet dreams, Uncle, brother dear. Ugh," She continued in an undertone as we left through another set of doors, which led to a tunnel. "Blithering Carter, gormless Carter, Carter my idiot brother thinks he can manage a girlfriend, when he can't even manage a sense of fashion style. I don't see why Zia fancies him, to be frank." The tunnels led to an open courtyard. Sadie led the way up a winding stone staircase into a hallway of doors. "If I'm kipping at the First Nome for some reason, I usually stay there." She pointed at a door. "The dorms are not as posh as the rooms at Brooklyn House, but oh well. You can sleep in that one," She pointed at the door next to hers. "You'll find clothes in the closet, for tonight and tomorrow as well."

"I'm not wearing linen robes," I said stubbornly.

"Well, I'm glad you have some fashion sense, but magicians usually wear clothes made of plants, like cotton, instead of animals, as it may interfere with their magic. But small amounts of animal products are ok. My boots, for example—" she stuck out a foot to reveal a pair of scuffed combat boots. "Well, these can stay. And your jacket is cotton as well, so that's great." Sadie yawned hugely. "I'm knackered. Oh, and one last thing— your ba might decide to take a little trip tonight, so be warned."

"Ba?"

"Chicken," Sadie said.

"Excuse me?"

Sadie sighed dramatically. "You see, now that your powers are stirring, your consciousness is also. You remember the Duat, don't you? Well, when you sleep, your consciousness passes through the shallowest currents. The deeper you go, the more horrible things you encounter, and the more difficult it is to return. You can get visions of the past, present, and future. Our ba is one of the five parts to our soul, it's our personality. The ba can leave our body when we dream, and it could come back to the earth after we die."

"But chicken? How does my ba have anything to do with chicken?"

"You'll see," Sadie said with an evil grin. "Thing is, we have magical protection. The headrest that we sleep on is enchanted to anchor our ba to our bodies. But they don't work on powerful magicians, and… well I doubt it's going to work on you."

I was flattered, but I pretended not to have understood. "Really? Why ever not?"

Sadie scowled. "Don't kid yourself. Now shut up and go sleep." She whirled around and slammed the door behind her.

I grinned, but my grin faded pretty quickly as I thought over the situation. I was stuck with a bunch of scary magicians who have the ability to blast me apart any second, but I couldn't leave because of my promise. To a goddess. I sighed as I walked into my dorm and sat down on a floating cot. Then I jumped up again and stared. Floating cots. Almost didn't see that one coming.

The stone walls of the dorms sweated moisture. There were creepy Egyptian images which flittered across the ceiling. The flickering light of the torches lining the wall threw dancing shadows onto every object. Obviously, the sheer size of the room suggested it was meant to fit a whole group of initiates, but it looked like the First Nome was pretty underpopulated for its capacity.

The brightly decorated headrest was there like Sadie said it would be, but it was so hard. It felt like it was made out of stone. After tossing and turning for hours, I swept the headrest off the cot and lay back down. I doubted my ba would suddenly decide to take a night trip when it had never done so before, and besides, Sadie said I was probably powerful enough so that a headrest would not be able to work some spell on me anyways. Despite my jet lag (Freak lag?) I shut my eyes and drifted off.


	11. Chapter 11

Rachael

Chapter 11

I crouched behind the branches, just watching. For now.

Clarisse and the others were still about twenty feet in front of me, while the flag lay seventy feet behind. They quickly glanced around, looking for hidden traps, but upon finding none, continued on. I smiled. They didn't even think to look in the trees.

I paused for a minute, analyzing the situation. I was outnumbered, but I could attack from long range, something they could not. I quietly removed an arrow from my quiver and nocked it. I pulled back and aimed just beyond Ugly Ares Kid #1's ear.

Grinning, I released. It was show time.

Ugly Ares Kid #1 immediately whirled around. The arrow had planted itself just a couple of yards away, in the trunk of a tree. Ugly Ares Kid #1 shook the others, and after another look around for traps, they continued on with more care. I shifted my weight to grab another arrow, but the movement caused the leaves to rustle gently. I froze in my place, praying to the gods they wouldn't spot me.

No such luck.

Clarisse spotted the tree within seconds and smirked. "Well, well," she called out, "Whom have we got here?"

I groaned inwardly. I had blown my cover, but I still had the height advantage. "What are you going to do about it Clarisse?" I said loudly, not caring if they heard me, as they already knew where I was. "Throw your spear forty feet in the air?" While talking I made my way down enough distance that I could jump, but I was still hidden in the branches.

Clarisse growled, but to my surprise stepped back and the other three demigods created a wall in front of her. I frowned. That wasn't like Clarisse at all. Either way, I was going to win this.

Taking a deep breath, I leapt from the cover of the tree and into open space.

Having no time to spare, I shot my first arrow at Ugly Ares Kid #1's foot and had reloaded within seconds. Ugly Ares Kid #1 cried out in pain and tried to pull it out, but it was wedged in pretty deeply. It bought me some time, but that wouldn't hold her for long. Removing my dagger, I crouched downwards and swept the blade right under Ugly Ares Kid #2's feet before he even knew what was happening. He fell to the ground and I kicked him away into the bushes.

I turned around, surprised to find Ugly Ares Kid #3's Celestial Bronze blade coming at my face, but I reacted and brought my dagger to meet it. We struck and parried for a few minutes, until he had let down his guard long enough for me to pin him against a nearby tree with Alexis. Turning back to Ugly Ares Kid #1, I kicked him hard in the stomach and sent him falling hard onto a rock, turning him unconscious.

I pulled out Alexis, but just when I was about to turn around, I saw Clarisse's spear heading straight at me. I managed to deflect it with the arrow I held in my left hand, but I still felt a painful tingling all over my body and my hair stood on end. My entire left arm went numb as the air around me burned.

Clarisse smirked. Curse that electric spear. I dropped Alexis, as I needed both arms for that. Now I had no choice but to use my dagger. There was nothing wrong with using my dagger, but archery was definitely my strong point. Clarisse tried to swipe her spear under me feet but I managed to jump over it. She tried another blow and my shoulder but I moved out of the way.

It went on like this for a while: her throwing blow after blow, me ducking out of the way, unable to deflect it or strike back. The only good thing was that I could control where we were heading. I soon started to tire and decided to try something stupid. I threw my dagger at Clarisse's shoes.

And with my amazing luck, this one time I just had to miss.

Clarisse paused for a minute and simply stood with her spear in hand, facing me.

Great. Now I was defenseless.

I took a small step back, and was surprised to find my foot drenched in water. Immediately a new wave of energy coursed through me. I took a quick look behind me and saw that we had backed up all the way to the river. Wait… river means Percy. Wasn't Percy supposed to be guarding the river? I shrugged. It was worth a shot.

I almost didn't see the next blow coming, aimed directly at my one good arm. I quickly sidestepped and soon our positions had switched: now Clarisse was just one step away from falling into the river. Clarisse got ready for another hit, but I took a chance and punched her hard in the stomach. The move messed up her balance and she fell backwards into the river, along with a loud splash. At first nothing happened, she just sat up and wrung out her hair, but just as she was about to stand, a fist grabbed her and pulled her back into the water. Percy came out from his hiding place in a bush, his hand matching the water's movements. I grinned.

Clarisse spluttered and tried to get back up but an invisible force was holding her under. "About time, Percy," I said, laughing.

"Well, you weren't doing so bad yourself," he replied.

"I do have my moments." I opened my mouth to say more but was interrupted by a loud roar as a full-sized drakon slithered onto the battlefield.

Allow me to explain: there are dragons, and there are drakons. Dragons are the kind of animal you would find in a fairy tale book, and in the end Prince Charming always would find some way to defeat it. A drakon, on the other hand, in something you would find in my over-popular and just amazing demigod life.

Drakons are several million years older than dragons and way larger. They look like giant serpents, as most don't have wings. They are all poisonous, immensely strong and their eyes can paralyze you. We do have drakon-fighting classes at camp, but there is no way to prepare you for the real two-hundred-foot-long serpent as thick as a school bus, it's yellow eyes like searchlights and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth big enough to chew elephants.

Yep, just another lucky day as a half blood.

I dipped my left arm into the creek and the numbing pain in my left arm immediately disappeared. I sheathed my dagger and pulled out Alexis as the drakon let out another roar. Just as I nocked an arrow, the drakon opened its mouth and blew out a flame that reduced about forty trees to ashes.

So apparently it breathed fire. Not the greatest addition to the list.

"I'll distract it, you sneak behind?" A voiced asked behind me. I turned around to see Annabeth holding her Yankees cap in her hands. The cap had the power to turn its wearer invisible. It had been a gift from her mother, Athena.

"Sounds good." I melted into the bushes, watching as Annabeth yelled insults along with Percy. The other campers were nowhere to be found. But what confused me was how the drakon had made it into camp. No monsters could get past the camp borders unless…well, I didn't really know the 'unless'. There was a rumour that the borders could be defeated by some kind of magic, but no one had ever done it before.

The trees rustled behind me, and I froze. To my surprise, the one and only Leo Valdez tore through the bushes and right onto the battlefield without even noticing me. The other teams flag was tucked in his tool belt, and he opened his mouth to yell something before realizing there was a two-hundred-foot serpent staring down at him.

"Holy Hephaestus!" He yelped. "What in Hades?" I then realized that Leo had never seen a drakon before, unlike the rest of us who had been around for the Battle of Manhattan two years ago.

"No time for that." Percy yelled back, while using waves of water to try to put out the flames. Meanwhile Annabeth was playing a dangerous game of tag, weaving in and out of the drakon's range, managing a few slashes but they made no difference. Only her speed kept her alive. Percy leapt forward at the drakon's mouth with Riptide, and for a second I thought the drakon was really done for, but at the last possible second the drakon lashed out its tail. Percy flew back and slammed against the trunk of a tree, unconscious.

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed, and ran to him, abandoning her post. Now it was just me and Leo.

I shot an arrow ahead of me, and it whizzed right past Leo's head, who was still staring like an idiot. He jerked at the silver streak in front of his eyes and snapped back to reality, sending blasts of flame at the drakon.

"About time, Valdez," I muttered under my breath. I fired more arrows at the drakon, but they simply bounced off its skin harmlessly. I guessed that its mouth was its weak point, but there was no way I could shoot an arrow from this angle. The drakon was completely turned away from me now, all eyes on Leo. I stared at its back, the dark green scales glittering in the moonlight and at its tail swishing back and forth.

I shrugged. Why not?

I shouldered Alexis and leaped onto the drakon's back.

I landed just behind its head, and, trying to keep my balance, unsheathed my dagger. The drakon, noticing my presence (and apparently not liking it) thrashed around wildly. I managed to take out my dagger, but there was no way I could hold on with both hands. I clinged on desperately but nevertheless I began to slide off. The drakon's tail whipped around and only narrowly missed me.

"Leo!" I yelled. "Do something!"

Leo looked around wildly but there was nothing he could do without getting himself fried. Desperately, I searched the drakon's scales when I saw it.

A chink in the armour. A scale was missing.

Gripping my dagger tightly, I thrust it into the exposed skin of the drakon. It roared in defiance and I could hold on no longer. The drakon thrust its head back and I flew off, landing with a loud splash in the deep waters of the creek nearby.

The silence was absolute. I was floating, out of breath, lost of any sense of direction. I tried to swim up to the surface, but a weird, tugging sensation was forcing me down. I looked below me to see a sort of whirlpool of sand at the bottom. Mesmerized, I swam through it.


	12. Chapter 12

SAVVY

Chapter 12

My eyes fluttered open just as a bucketful of water crashed down onto my face.

"Spla eargh!" I spluttered as I rolled over and fell from the floating cot to the stone hard floor.

Sadie stood over me, laughing hysterically. "Oh, I totally get Zia now! She used to wake me up like this all the time, and I've always wanted to do that!"

"I'm so grateful," I growled, picking myself off the floor. "Where's breakfast?"

…

Fifteen minutes later, I was dressed in my usual, slightly crinkled attire in the Cleansing Room (though I'd just had a "bath", if you could call it that). I had had a lovely breakfast of air— Zia said I would get my breakfast after I "survive". Talk about drama queen.

I bounced on the balls of my feet, eager for us to start training. It's weird, I had felt really energized ever since Sadie's method of waking me up. I got really excited when Zia mentioned tattoos… until I realized she meant on my tongue. It tasted horrible. It was supposed to be the symbol of Ma'at, order and harmony, and should make me speak clearly. All it did was it made me gag. I spat it out instantly.

"So, how was your night?" Sadie muttered to me while we were walking through the city. I had told Zia that it was fine before, but I could tell Sadie wasn't easily fooled.

"Just brilliant," I said, mimicking Sadie's accent.

She scowled, offended. "Yeah, ok. Except when I woke you up just now, your headrest was on the floor, so I would think perhaps your bloody ba…"

"I didn't see anything you would need to worry about, ok?" I snapped, irritated, and sped up to walk with Zia.

I wasn't lying though. Sadie and her band of stupid magicians couldn't be bothered with Rachael. The truth was, I had been a chicken. I had turned into a shimmering, weightless form with wings instead of arms. I couldn't have that! I had willed myself to have a human form and somehow, I became Savvy, but still drifting and weightless. I had been carried out the window by a strong current, and the world had blurred before me before revealing a place I didn't think in a million years my ba would take me. A camp.

I've never been to a camp before, but I doubt that camps have lava rock climbing walls, warships moored at docks, or pegasus flying around. It was bright and sunny, and there were many cabins, as well as woods, beaches, a creek, a canoe lake, a big blue building along with other small buildings, and lush green strawberry fields. There were tons of kids running around, shooting arrows… sword fighting? I couldn't be sure. I couldn't tell where this camp was supposed to be.

I had zoomed in and my vision had blurred again before refocusing on a single figure shooting arrows, a look of uttermost concentration on her face. I could recognize that expression anywhere.

Rachael paused and wiped her forehead. I tried to call out and wave my hands, but I couldn't move. I just floated.

I watched as Rachael frowned and looked around like she knew someone was there, but she saw right through me. Then she sighed and muttered, "Where are you, Savvy?"

That was about the time I woke up. I didn't feel like telling anyone my dream, but somewhere inside of me, I resolved to never rest until I found that camp.

I clutched a leather satchel tightly to my chest. Zia had given it to me, and it was not unlike the one Sadie had used. In the bag of horrors contained a boomerang shaped wand, a rod that was supposed to turn into a staff, some papyrus, a calligraphy set, rope and wax. Somehow I'd always imagine magicians to carry a card pack and a striped wand, but I didn't question the bag.

I followed Zia out of a tunnel into a large room, Sadie bringing up the rear. And stopped.

The room was breathtakingly huge. It was a large round chamber decorated with brightly coloured pictures of people, gods and monsters. The stairwell we were standing on descended several stories down.

"This is the First Nome library," Zia whispered. "Touch nothing."

I didn't even retort. I craned my neck, taking in the room. There were no bookshelves or even books. There were round cubbyholes in the walls, each holding a plastic cylinder.

At each of the cardinal points stood ceramic statues on a pedestal with kilts and sandals, wedge shaped haircuts and black kohl. Clay shabti.

Zia marched over to a table and took out a papyrus scroll. She dipped a stylus in golden ink and held it out to me.

"Magic at its most basic can turn words into reality. You can summon the magic words from Ma'at, the creative power of the universe, and turn it into reality. Send power into words onto the scroll, and when spoken, the magic will be unleashed from the words." Zia looked at me pointedly.

I took the stylus. "Can it be English?"

Sadie sighed. "Hieroglyphics work better, but if you really want too…"

I paused, and then wrote the word cat. Nothing happened.

Sadie smirked. "I suppose, if that's the best you can do…"

I clenched my teeth. "What's one for water?"

She showed me. "Now speak the word and envision water in your mind," Sadie said, looking disbelieving.

I was getting exasperated from the way she treated me. "Water."

Instantly, several cubic gallons of water fell over Sadie's head. She shrieked, completely drenched from head to toe.

I started to giggle. "Oops! Guess it really does turn out like how you envision it!"

Sadie opened her mouth, but Zia cut in. "That was not bad for a beginner. I think you're ready to duel."

Instantly, Sadie's face cracked into an evil grin. "Excellent. You'll be duelling me."

For the next four days, my life settled into a routine. In the morning, I got up and got dressed (I had a huge argument with Zia about my choice of dress and won, I didn't have to dress in linen robes after all), ate breakfast, and met Zia in the library, where she would teach me scrying, scribing, and Egyptian history. It was Zia that oversaw my lessons, but Carter helped sometimes— he was a patient teacher, unlike his sister, who was merciless.

In the afternoon we'd practice duelling. Ever since summoning Ma'at, I couldn't perform magic as easily as before. Each magic drawn from my own reserves left me exhausted and hungry. Sadie would always love to show me how much better she was at duelling. She'd throw her staff and scare me as it turned into a lion, or she'd blow fireballs into my face, scorching my eyebrows off. We practised fighting, and I practiced with knives and daggers. I realized that I wasn't actually all that bad with close range weapons, once I got the hang of it. I also learned to ride Egyptian chariots, though the number of times I fell off contributed to the sore spots on my body.

I'd also have healing lessons and arts and craft, where I'd make things like shabti, amulets and magic weapons. After that and a relaxing shower, I'd have some time to wander the First Nome, which I'd always like doing. I would sit in a food stall, munching Egyptian food such as kushari (a common meal) and sipping sahlab (hot vanilla) and watching the magicians go about with their everyday life.

On my second day, I got lost trying to find my way back to the dorm and somehow found myself facing a stable. I love horses, and they seem to be the only animals that let me touch them. I'd wander among the chariot horses and fall asleep in the stalls amidst the comforting sounds of snorts and quiet whinnies.

I knew Zia, Carter, Sadie and Amos were wondering what kind of magician I was. Every magician had some kind of specialty, whether it be healing, amulet making, animal charming, an elementalist (controlling the elements), combat magic (what Carter did with Neper), necromancy, divining, etc. I had a knack for controlling elements, especially water, and some combat magic, but everything else I was pretty bad at. My shabti went berserk, my amulets turned out to be nothing just amulets… I couldn't even put on a Band Aid properly!

Also, they were wondering which path of the gods I followed. Ever since the magicians and gods started working together as one recently, magicians had started to follow the gods' paths again — learning the ways and magic of a particular god. Carter was following the god of Horus, Zia of Ra, the king of gods, and Sadie of Isis. All of them had even hosted their particular god at least once, but that was only because they had to, and it was necessary for slaying Apophis.

I learned a lot of weird things about Sadie, Carter and Zia, which made me think my life wasn't as weird after all. Sadie and Carter's dad is sharing bodies with (or being hosted by) the god of dead, Osiris, in the Underworld. Sadie's boyfriend Walt is also hosting Anubis, the god of funerals, and apparently she likes them both equally. Zia grew up in a village that was destroyed by a monster, and was placed under a deep sleep for some time before being awoken by Carter. Random stuff like that.

I was beginning to really like this new world, along with Carter, Zia, and even (gasp!) Sadie. Finally, there was an explanation, a real reason as to why my life was so… confusing. And depressing, though it wasn't really anymore. Far from it, actually.

However, I had no idea why Isis wanted me to meet these people, as they were obviously the "them" she was talking about. I mean, sure, she wanted me to find my place as a true magician, but there are many magicians who don't even know they're magicians in this world. Some even have lived their whole lives as a mortal without ever knowing their true past, according to Zia. So why me? Why did Isis pick me?

I also wanted to find Rachael, but I didn't know how. I mean,

I'm in Egypt and presumably she's in North America.

I don't even know where in North America— nowhere that I know that's for sure.

Believe it or not, I don't have her phone number. Or her email address. Or her house address.

Also, it seemed like Rachael was looking for me as well, as far as I could tell. I had a feeling it'd be better if I stayed put. Chances are, if we're all over the globe looking for each other, it'd be less likely for us to find the other then if one of us stayed in one spot.

But of course, nothing really works that way.

On my fifth day, I was lying feet up against a wall of a cramped stable stall, studying a scroll I had stolen from the First Nome. I've actually gotten really far when it comes to reading hieroglyphics. However, there were just too many for me to cram into my dyslexic brain. There's actually quite lax security on the scrolls in the First Nome Library (do they really think they can scare me into not nicking?), so retrieving the scroll wasn't difficult. Deciphering it is.

A horse snorted quietly in the stall next to mine and I closed my eyes as hieroglyphs started to float off the page and swirl around my mind. My mind sunk deeper under the waves of exhaustion…ah, relaxation…

Not. My eyes snapped open as a hole of swirling sand materialized above me and something heavy fell directly on top of me.

"Ow!" I yelped in unison with the person. I raised my head to see a dishevelled Sadie roll off of me and stand up, accidentally (purposely?) tramping on my fingers with her heavy combat boots as she did.

"Stupid portals," She muttered, brushing sand off her clothes. "So unreliable."

Let me explain. One way magicians like to travel is through portals. Portals are sandy holes through the Duat that are difficult to open, and take great concentration, which is hard to do when you knew you couldn't be certain if it would deposited you in Antarctica with the penguins, where the Three Hundredth and Sixty-Fifth Nome is.

Portals also have to be opened at an auspicious moment of the day, such as sunrise, sunset, midnight, eclipses, astrological alignments, the exact time of a god's birth, etc. But there are so many auspicious moments, it's not really a big deal.

I stood up as well, hopping from foot to foot from the pins and needles. "What's up?"

"The Set animal," Sadie answered. "C'mon." Before I could react, she grabbed my arm and jumped straight into the swirling vortex, pulling me with her.

For a few seconds, the world spun so crazily I almost blacked out. Then I came shooting out of thin air. I was deposited on my feet, but I crumpled instantly, coughing sand and dragging Sadie down with me. She cursed and pulled me back up.

"What. The. Hell?!" I yelled. "Thanks so much!"

Then I realized we were standing in the bunker in the Hall of Ages. I blushed when I realized Amos was there as well. Did I just yell at his niece… in front of him?

Amos didn't seem to care— he's probably seen it lots of times, anyway. "Hello, Savvy. Nice trip?" He winked, although he looked really worried over something at the moment.

I noticed suddenly that Carter was there as well, poring over the map of figurines. "What's wrong?"

Carter looked up, worried. "The Set animal, that's what. It's moved. We can't actually pinpoint its exact location, but we know it's moved from The Zues Hotel."

"W-What? What does that mean?"

"It means big trouble." Carter said, frowning at… an IPad?

"I thought we weren't allowed electronics? I thought electronics sent up a flare to every monster?"

Carter shrugged in response. "This is an emergency. I'm trying to track the monster on with it right now, and it seems to be running either after or from something, or someone."

Sadie shook her head. "What could scare the Set animal?"

"So what do we do now? Where's Zia?" I asked.

"She left not but an hour ago to the 249th Nome in Italy— there's been a sighting of a goddess, and she's there to find out if it's true." Amos shook his head mournfully. "By the time she comes back, it may be too late."

"So someone goes now," I said, then blushed as everybody looked at me. I wasn't used to leading. "Someone should go to Manhattan now, and find this Set creature thing before we've lost it."

Carter nodded. "But we'll need more than one person to go. Sadie and I could do it. And you too, Savvy."

I perked up. "Really? You think I'm ready?"

Amos grinned at me. "I doubt you'll need to wait a full week. You've been improving very quickly, Zia tells me. I'm very sure you're ready."

I couldn't help but grin as well. It was the first time someone had complimented me. I didn't even think I was learning at all. "Do we have to use a portal?"

"Unless you can find a posher way to travel," Sadie said. "The next auspicious moment should be in a ten minutes."

That was more than enough time. I didn't need to bring much — I always travelled light. I felt empty without Thorn by my side. These past few days I had been thinking about how I managed to get Thorn from that shop. I knew it wasn't coincidence. It must have been the gods. However, I wasn't grateful. A lifetime of fear, desolation and pain, and all they gave me was a stupid, now broken bronze dagger. What did Isis say? They tried to help me?

But right now, I had bigger, more pressing matters. Exciting, too. I had a messenger bag to store my staff and wand, but I was too jittery, I needed to hold them or else I would break something.

Amos conjured the portal up this time, his brow poring sweat as he did. Nevertheless, he managed a weak grin and imitated shooting a monster. I made a face and stepped through the portal.

A rush of nothingness, and then…

"OW." I groaned. I was on hard ground, and I had banged myself up… a lot. I glared up at Sadie and Carter, who were standing.

"What?"

"Nothing," I grumbled. Sometimes, I really hate that magicians like them could land on their feet. Stupid portals. Stupid.

Carter felt sympathy for me, and pulled me up. Dusting sand off my clothes, I glanced around, assessing the scenery.

The closest I'd been to Manhattan is Connecticut, on the Amtrak running away from… it's a long story, but it involves being chased by a herd of somethings. It was nighttime here, and different scents filled the air. Brightly lit buildings lined the crowded sidewalk, and yellow taxicabs were everywhere.

"Where are we?"

"Manhattan, you dweeb." That was Sadie, of course.

I shoved her playfully. "I meant specifically."

She shoved me back a whole lot harder, but she answered my question. "We're at the corner of 42nd street. This is the hotel where the Set animal was at for a long time before he scarpered today."

I looked where she was pointing. A dingy two storey hotel was squished between two grand buildings. The paint was peeling and the sign read: The Zues Hotel.

I didn't know much about Greek mythology, but I did know this Zeus is Zeus, not Zues. I didn't see how nobody in the hotel could know that a Set animal was living right under their noses this whole time, but the Duat, which manipulates mortals' eyes, can pretty much cover anything.

Sadie looked delighted to be back in New York. She and Carter had made it their home at the Brooklyn House while training initiates. "The Set animal is within a two mile radius, according to the IPad." She grinned at the buildings and people. "I know this city like the back of my hand! Carter can go south— down the 41st street. I'll go north to 43rd and you, Savvy, can go west along the Hudson River. We'll rendezvous back here at the hotel."

"West? I've never been to Manhattan before!"

"Well pardon me! You've stolen First Nome Library scrolls, haven't you? Shouldn't be too difficult," Sadie smirked.

Blushing, I glared and stalked off as Sadie sniggered and Carter exclaimed, "Wait, she stole a library scroll?"

…

I must be losing my touch, I thought as I wove through the crowded streets of Manhattan, a map gripped tightly in my hand. I'd stolen it from one of the tourists, as Sadie told me to do, but I had barely gotten out of that with a few scrapes. How was I supposed to know old ladies have fast reflexes? And heavy handbags, I thought glumly, unfurling the crinkled map.

My forehead wrinkled as I studied the map. I couldn't read the floating words and the numbered streets were so confusing! West? Where was that?

I looked up, and then consulted the map again. I was on Broadway Street. Broadway was west, or was it? I shook my head in frustration. Dyslexia was killing me.

I glanced up, aroused by a new thought. This spell was tricky to pull off, but it might work. Still, I didn't want mortals noticing if the spell went berserk and turned my staff into an armadillo. Carter did say something about that, anyway.

I placed my staff (because it wasn't activated yet, it was only a short rod) lightly on my palm and muttered "Naki." Point me.

The staff glowed golden and rose a few inches, spinning in my hand. It stopped spinning, the head pointing towards my right.

I snatched my staff and trudged towards my right. The spell was useful for travelling, if you wanted to know compass directions. The spell made me kind of hungry, though I ate barely twenty minutes ago in the stable. I eyed a hotdog stand eagerly, wondering if I stood a chance in pocketing something. I decided not too when the man at the stand caught my eye and glowered at me, as if like, I dare you. I took the hint and beat it out of there. New Yorkers are used to thieves.

I ended up walking along a lake, the Hudson Lake, according to the map. A closed amusement park was a little ahead, and the gurgling river to my left. I sat done on a bench, a little drained. There were no disturbances whatsoever, no sightings of the Set animal anywhere. I wondered if Sadie or Carter were on the monters trail right now. They were probably having fun, fighting like it was a piece of cake.

Jinx!

I wasn't really watching the traffic or anything, but suddenly, a mass of car horns filling the air made me jump about a foot high.

The road was a tangle of cars. Cars, buses, and taxi drivers made rude gestures and yelled at each other. Sirens wailed from a distance. What was happening?

At first, the wall of cars prevented me from seeing anything. Then, 20 to 30 yards away, something with reddish gray fur jumped onto a taxicab, flattening the hood. Something as huge as a horse with a lean, muscled body. Something with a curved snout, a forked reptilian tail, and ears shaped like ice-cream cones. Not to forget the deadly, dripping fangs. I had never seen him before, yet I recognised him right away. The Set animal had arrived. Excellent.

His glowing eyes spotted me and it jumped off and landed onto the road, growling. Even from here I could see the deep gouges left on the taxi hood.

Mortals were screaming wildly. They noticed something, at least. I jumped to my feet, my staff rod elongating into a full sized black/white staff with carved hieroglyphs and a lion on the head. I was more than ready for this fight. I was anticipating it.

What I wasn't anticipating was the arrow that sprouted out of nowhere and grazed the Set animal's ear. The silver arrow had a bronze head… like Thorn, I thought. It had a bronze blade too, and only that blade could kill monsters. The arrow burrowed into the pavement — it actually stuck into cement! It was followed by another arrow, which only missed the monster when it twisted in mid-air, blown of course by a sudden breeze. He made a series of yipping sounds and streaked away, leaping over the tall fence of the amusement park.

From behind a car, someone dashed out in pursuit of the Set animal. Someone, armed with a decorated pearly bow and a quiver full of bronze tipped arrows, someone so intensely concentrated on the Set animal that she didn't see me watch her in horror as she jumped over the 6 foot fence like it was nothing.

Guess who that someone was?

I had no other choice. I ran after them.


	13. Chapter 13

Rachael

Chapter 13

I tumbled out right in the middle of a bustling road.

Muttering under my breath, I straightened and brushed myself off. What was that on my clothes? Sand? Frowning slightly, I turned behind me to where I had emerged.

But nothing was there.

A couple of old ladies walking by stared at me briefly, probably wondering what a teenager covered in sand was doing in the middle of…

Of where? I looked around at the cars whizzing by and squinted at the illuminated road sign. 42nd street. Huh.

Wait, WHAT? How in the world had I ended up here? This place was like an hour drive from Camp!

It looked familiar for some reason, even though I hadn't grown up in New York. The excess of bright lights brought spots to my eyes and the tall commercial buildings towered over me. Only then I realized that this had been one of the places I had been guarding during the Battle of Manhattan, otherwise known as the Titan War.

I started walking till I reached the intersection and then went left on 9th avenue. I knew my way around here (sort of) but I had absolutely no idea whatsoever how to get back to Camp Half-Blood. Moreover, how in Hades had I ended up here? Magic of some sorts? The gods? Maybe I just randomly flew 50 miles. Wonderful.

…

I trudged ahead, completely out of ideas.

It was pretty late, past midnight, but cars still whizzed past me, their drivers anxious to go…well, wherever they needed to go. I stopped by a restaurant bar, which was still open, though the staff were already cleaning up. I had to keep walking, so I started forward, but my stomach grumbled in protest.

Food It complained.

"Later."

Eat It persisted.

I sighed heavily. I spoke into my bracelet again, calling out for anyone. "Annabeth? Percy? Leo?" Nobody answered. Stopping by a nearby fountain, I tried to Iris-message for probably the fifth time in the last hour, but, like all the other times, nothing got through.

I had already covered most of 9th avenue, turning only at 65th street, and then circling back on 7th avenue. Now I was back on 42nd street.

I felt kind of guilty for leaving Leo alone with the drakon. The gash I had managed to deliver in its back definitely would have done some damage, but in no way could've killed it. I had let myself fly 50 feet backward, land in the river screaming and had left Leo alone with a two-hundred-foot long serpent to deal with. Not the most helpful thing to do.

I threw down Alexis in frustration. I just felt so…useless these days.

I sat down on a bench to catch my breath. I had no plan, no mortal money, and no contact whatsoever to Camp Half-Blood. (Thanks a lot Iris!)

Right now, I felt like pretty much the dictionary definition of useless.

My stomach still complaining, I looked across the street to see a dingy two-storey inn squished in between to grander buildings. The paint was pretty old, and a few flowerpots stood wilted by the doorway. I glanced at the sign, and rolled my eyes.

The Zues Hotel.

Some name. It wasn't even spelled right. Zeus was spelled Z-E-U-S not Zues. It almost sounded like the Zooos Hotel. It was a wonder Zeus himself hadn't yet electrified it with his master bolt.

However, I couldn't help but smile. It was kind of funny. I cracked up, imagining telling Chiron that I had stayed at the Zooos Hotel.

A strong breeze ruffled my clothes, making me shiver. It was getting cold, and I was completely worn out from the long walk as well as Capture the Flag.

I had no mortal money, so there was no way I could pay for accommodations for the hotel, but it looked completely deserted anyway. Spotting an open window open window on the second floor, I climbed a nearby tree and stepped into the room. However, just as I was about to climb into the room, my foot slipped and I tumbled right through the window.

I glanced at the window and sighed, and then took in my surroundings.

The room was very simple, not decorated in any way, and held only a bed and a night table along with a small lamp. I opened the creaking door to find no one downstairs. It was as I had guessed: the hotel was uninhabited.

A thought crossed my mind: there could be monsters hiding out in the hotel, waiting for the right moment to attack. I wondered where all those little kids had gotten the silly idea that monsters lived under their bed from.

I threw open the closet door and glared at it, almost daring a monster to come out.

The closet was empty.

I locked the door for good measure, and after depositing Alexis and my dagger on the night table, crashed out onto the bed.

…

By the time I awoke sunlight was already streaming in through the open window, despite it being the middle of November. I stretched and lazily got out of bed, half mumbling, "Annabeth?" After looking around the room in confusion for a couple minutes, I remembered my situation.

I slammed my head against the pillow, my stomach grumbling again. What to do?

I got out of bed, extremely hungry. But how was I supposed to get food? As I walked across the room, I noticed something that hadn't been there before. I glanced down, noticing a backpack.

Instantly I grabbed it and spilled the contents onto the bed. A pack of biscuits, beef jerky, and a little mortal money, as well as a bottle of water. It wasn't much, but my heart leaped. Who had sent it? My finger traced a symbol inscribed on the water bottle: Poseidon's trident.

Could it be Poseidon who sent me this pack? Either way, I had to get moving.

After counting the bills, I discovered that I had just enough money to be able to hail a taxi and be back in Camp Half-Blood by midmorning, but something held me back. I was already stuck out here, so why didn't I use this opportunity to try to find Savvy? I hadn't seen or heard of here whereabouts since the arai attacked our school, so I had no idea where to start, but it was worth a shot.

Depositing my belongings into the pack, I climbed down the stairs and walked out the door.

…

I yawned as a trudged downstairs while munching some bread absentmindedly. It's been five days, yet there is still no sign on Savvy anywhere. Every morning I checked the newspaper, social media, looking for any disasters suggesting that Savvy was nearby. I had even stopped by the Empire State building to ask the gods for help, but had been denied access. My friends back at Camp must be worrying now, but I still wasn't going back. Not without Savvy. Plus, I kind of spent all the money on food so I had no way of getting back to camp even if I wanted to. I stepped out the door. It was drizzling softly, but nothing I had to worry about. I almost didn't notice the monster sitting right outside the doorstep.

At first, everything seemed natural. Just another stray dog lapping water from the stained dog bowl that sat outside. What else is new? But when I looked closer, I knew that there was definitely something wrong. The creature was much larger than an average dog, only slightly smaller than a horse. It was covered in reddish-grey fur, a curved snout and a forked reptilian tail. Oh yeah. And don't forget about those deadly dripping fangs. Slight detail.

As soon as the creature noticed me, its eyes glowed red with fury and it's whole body radiated power. It lowered its head slowly and snarled menacingly at me.

Yep. This thing pretty much yelled MONSTER! in my face.

However, as I carefully unsheathed my dagger, the monster bounded away with lightning speed. For a moment, I was too stunned to move. I'd never seen a monster leave a demigod alone like that. Given the chance they always attacked. If this crazy glowing horse-thing had something more important to do than kill me, I wanted to know what it was. Besides, I couldn't just let it roam the city freely.

I glanced wistfully at the road that would have taken me to the next place where I would yet again begin my search for Savvy, and then sprinted after the monster.

I completed a full search of the area around the hotel, and found the creature hunched over in an alley right behind the hotel, as if it was hesitant to leave. I hid behind a trash can, just observing it. I had never seen anything like it before, and I had no idea what it was, therefore no idea how to destroy it. A faint memory ticked annoyingly at the back of my head, but I couldn't grasp it.

I stood only a few feet away from the creature, Alexis still gripped tightly in my arm. But when I looked into the creature's eyes, what I saw surprised me. I was expecting menace, hatred even. But what I saw was only a single emotion: fear.

It was fear I saw in this creatures' eyes, and slowly I understood why. It had never encountered something like me before. I was an unknown source of power. The thought gave me an emotional boost that had been overdue in ages. Not seeing Savvy, the news of Night were all tales of things I couldn't do. But to have something before me, something so powerful that I could beat...it was what I needed.

And I was going to take full advantage of it. This creature was going to be sorry it was ever born.

I glanced down to unsheathe my dagger, but when I looked up again I only saw the shadow of the monster bounding down the alleyway.

Taking a deep breath, I bolted after it.

I weaved in and out of cars, not bothering to take the crosswalk. Drivers honked loudly and began to clog the street. I spotted the monster just at the end of the road, where a couple of teenagers were petting it calmly.

It must be the Mist at its work. Sometimes I wondered if the mortals ever noticed how… stupid they looked.

I crept up behind the monster and lifted my dagger, but at the last minute the monster let loose a blast of blinding red light, and I had to drop my dagger just to shield my eyes.

Of course, the mortals took no notice.

The monster bounded away again, and I chased after it.

It went on like this for a while. Sometimes when I would stop to catch my breath this low voice began taunting me inside my head, almost like it was saying can't catch me, can't catch me. As stupid as it sounded, it was true. I half expected it to turn into the gingerbread man I had been chasing it for so long. At one point I lost the monster on 52nd street, and then found it again on 11th avenue. I jumped on picnic tables and dived through clothing racks, but still it ran ahead of me.

No. I would not be outrun by this, this thing.

I eventually chased in onto Broadway street. I was walking along a lake when I spotted a closed amusement park ahead. The entrance was a huge stone arch and it had strong fencing that was lined all around the park, the lowest almost twelve feet high.

Bingo.

I spotted the creature running out of a department store. Cars clogged the intersection and the monster was weaving through the cars and pretty much flattened a taxi when it land on the hood. Mortals were running around in panic, screaming wildly.

Well, at least they noticed something.

I tapped my pearl bracelet and Alexis grew into its full form. I nocked an arrow and released. It grazed the monster's ear and then stuck in the cement. I fired another arrow at its head, but it twisted in midair as a sudden gist of wind blew in the opposite direction. The arrow streaked away and buried itself in the amusement park sign.

The monster leapt off the taxi with inhuman ability and landed just over the fence. I watched the monster glide over the top of the fence gracefully, and then groaned. Really? I mean, I was okay at rock climbing and such, but how was I supposed to jump twelve feet in the air?

Sighing, I slid my next arrow back in the sheath and made a running start and headed for the fence.

I pushed upward with my legs and soared over the fence, but at the last possible second my foot nicked the edge of the picket. My feet hit solid ground, and a sharp pain shot up my legs, but I stumbled forward.

I glanced at the fence briefly, brushing myself off. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

I glanced around the clearly, but it was completely desolate, devoid of life. The monster could be long gone by now. I sighed, and renewed our little game of tag.

I was searching through the rubble of a broken Ferris wheel when I heard a voice behind me.

Well, well, finally we come face to face.

I looked around in confusion, but no one was there. Just the monster glaring down at me.

I expected so much more. However it seems like you were just as ignorant as my mistress thought. The voice spoke inside me head.

I stared at the monster, my heart pounding. "Who are you? What are you?"

Me? I suppose you could call me the Set animal. Although my plans are the thing you should really be worrying about. Not that you'll live long enough to find out.

My mind raced. What did I know about the Set animal? My lessons from Madam Isabel came back to me.

"The Set animal also known as the sha, is symbolic of Set, and embodies Set's cunning, strength, and evil. It is a perfect hunter and once it catches a scent, it does not stop. The Set animal has no magical powers, but it's physical ones are so powerful that they were greatly feared among the Egyptians. It is also extremely fast. The drool it produces is like acid and burns anything it touches."

Not very helpful. But one thing was for sure, the Set animal couldn't talk. The only way it could communicate was if someone spoke through the Set animal of its free will. And that someone had complete command over the animal's actions.

"What do you want?" I asked, fear still gripping my voice.

The animal answered by pouncing on my directly.

I escaped only by rolling away in the nick of time. I ducked as the Set animal swung its claws at me, its drool creating blisters on my face. I manoeuvred so that I was directly on top of the monster, but it snapped at my dagger and I had to move away.

I didn't have enough time to load Alexis, so I hurled my dagger directly at the Set animal, but it snapped it out of midair and threw in aside.

I sighed. So much for that idea.

I climbed a set of boxes and fired an arrow at the monster but it evaded it with expert instincts. It leapt onto the first box and I backed away. It growled at me and I climbed as fast as my legs would take me until I stood at the very top of the tower of boxes, the Set animal right on my heels. I was seriously freaked out now.

The boxes shifted which caused him to loose his balance for a second, which was enough time to launch an arrow that only slightly missed. If only I could get the boxes to shift again…

Making sure my stance on the boxes was firm, I began shifting my weight back and forth, causing the boxes to sway. The Set animal began to lose its grip and clawed at the boxes as it slowly slid down. Using the opportunity, I fired an arrow at the Set animal's leg. The monster roared in pain and fell down onto the ground, half of the boxes toppling on top of him. Stuffed animals flew in all directions, burying the Set animal. I smiled. The Set animal quickly dug itself out of the pile and threw aside a Sponge Bob Square Pants, tearing it to shreds.

This thing really had temper control issues.

I could feel the boxes swaying below my feet; any second and they would give way. Taking a chance, I jumped and landed right in front of the Set animal, which was now on the floor moaning in pain. The ground surrounding it was steaming from its acid drool.

It growled at me menacingly, it's expression full of hate, and I understood its thoughts right away. One pounce, and I would die.

The Set animal pinned me down with its claws and breathed down on me.

Pity it has to end this way, it spoke in my head. With that, the Set animal opened its huge jaw and I squeezed my eyes shut.

I counted seconds in my head. What would dying feel like? Painful? Would I actually have one of those flashbacks of all the memories of my life? I mean, unlike most mortals I knew what would happen after I died: I would go to the Underworld. I had even been there before, but was not really looking forward to attending the area as a ghost.

It was a full four and half seconds later before I realized that I was taking quite a long time to die.

I opened my eyes, which were immediately met with a blinding flash of white light. I felt the weight of the Set animal leave me, and I raised my head to see the last possible face I would ever guess standing behind the Set animal.

"S-Savvy?"


	14. Chapter 14

SAVVY

Chapter 14

I almost didn't think Rachael needed help.

It had taken me ages to scale the stupid fence. I wasn't as good as climbing as Rachael, and she had jumped. JUMPED. Over a 12 foot tall fence. I wish that back when we were best friends in Canada, she had taken the liberty to show me tricks like these, not to forget how to shoot with a freaking bow and arrow.

I missed my footing on the fence a billion times when climbing. While Rachael was all "superhero who overcame any obstacle", I was all "sweating, slipping and letting loose a lot of colourful swear words".

And then after I got over the fence, there was the question of where Rachael and the Set animal were. The amusement park was HUGE. I had been so focused on following Rachael… I had lost track of her. How was that even possible?

It was probably around twelve in the morning, and it was really hot. It had been almost night-time when we left for New York, and the time differences really affected me. I had just gotten used to Egyptian time.

So yeah, there I was, feeling right on top of the world as I searched for signs of a battle. I prayed and cursed at every single god I could think of, including the Set animal and Rachael. I must have run about half of the perimeter of the amusement park looking for them, before finally reaching the main entrance. A ginormous stone arch sign on two pillars read:

HAPPY FAMILIES AMUSEMENT PARK

I kicked a stone pillar as I ran past.

I found them at the back of Happy Families Amusement Park, where the staff stored equipment in boxes. There was a mountain of boxes with stuffed animal prizes in them, for those stupid games that cheat you of your money. The ground was gouged and scratched by the Set animal's claws and covered with still sizzling holes from the saliva of the monster.

Rachael herself was standing on the mountain of boxes, holding the silver bow. Rachael, who was beat up, scratched, and cornered. But she was alive. And she was nocking an arrow directly at the Set animal.

I could only see half of the Set animal, but I sure as hell didn't ever want to see the other half because from what I could see already, he was already pretty scary.

Neither Rachael nor the Set animal saw me, and I was just about to leap into the fight yelling battle cries at the top of my lungs when something stopped me. Charging head-on was not going to work all the time. I needed a plan.

Rachael was swaying back and forth, and I thought she was about to fall, but I realized that she was trying to get the Set animal unbalanced so he wouldn't climb up after her. The monster snapped at her feet as he scrambled to climb up the boxes, but he slid off. Rachael quickly released her arrow, and it found its mark in the Set animal's foot. I winced as he howled, but he deftly pulled the arrow out with its teeth and flung it away, looking more angry then he was hurt.

Meanwhile, I kept to the edges, careful not to let the Set animal see me. Zia's wonderful words of wisdom, as she calls it, filled my head. When in a sticky solution, use everything in sight to your advantage. My eyes flitted from side to side, looking for something, anything that could help me.

In my mind's eye I saw the massive stone arch again… Happy Families Amusement Park…

Before I could make a move, the boxes Rachael was balancing on reached its swaying limit. From a distance, I could just make out Rachael's concentrated face, her body tensing as she timed her jump perfectly. As the boxes toppled onto the Set animal Rachael leapt straight over his head, landing and rolling to a stop.

The diversion of the boxes only kept the Set animal down for so long. With a snarl it threw off the cardboard boxes, ripping stuffed animals to shreds all around him. Before I knew it, Rachael was pinned down beneath him.

It was Rachael's face that jolted me back to reality. From here, I could clearly see her expression— fear. I had never seen her look scared, like, ever. Even when she was fighting Miss Uglyface in the classroom, or with the Set animal, she had maintained a cool detached face. Hell, even when I set off the fire alarm and got us both caught (which was more terrifying than the scariest creature in Egyptian history), she wasn't as scared as now. I realized that she knew she was going to die.

And I knew, although my feet were flying as fast as possible towards them, that I couldn't ever reach them in time. I was so close, but too far.

Although the Set animal wasn't moving his mouth and he shouldn't be able to speak, a strange, hissing voice filled the air. Pity it had to end this way.

Rachael closed her eyes.

Adrenaline pumping through my veins, I raised my staff at the pair, letting some of my power trickle into it. Don't pour all your power and energy into one spell, Zia had said. Overdoing it could quite literally burn you up.

"Drowah!"

At first, nothing happened.

Then, as the Set animal opened his jaw wide to strike, a white wall of light fizzled into existence between him and Rachael, forcing him back. The Set animal blinked in surprise, then growled savagely, swiping at the wall. There was a sizzling and popping noise and he yowled as he snatched his paw back, which was now steaming.

He wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. Obviously he could've just went around the wall, but he seemed too intent on going through it. Stupid monster. Over-sized, deadly, and dangerous, but still stupid.

I regretted the thought as, gnashing his teeth; the Set animal turned around and snarled at me. Acidic saliva dripped from his fangs, burning holes in the ground.

Rachael opened one eye, then another as she assessed the scene in surprise. She saw me and gaped.

"S-Savvy?"

The Set animal pounced, a lightning streak of red and grey, and I danced out of the way just in time. "How's it going, Rachael?" I yelled over my shoulder, dodging as the Set animal snapped at my head.

My ADHD, for once, came in useful. I was able to focus on everything at once. Time slowed down, and I could see the corner of the Set animal's red eyes tense a little before he sprung, giving me enough of a heads up to dive to the side. Meanwhile, I noted as Rachael pushed herself to her feet, snatching her bow and arrow up. She released an arrow at the Set animal, but he merely moved a fraction to the left and let the arrow fly past him.

Taking advantage of my pause, the Set animal swiped at me again and I reacted slower his time. My thigh exploded in pain, and I staggered. I didn't dare to look down at my left leg, fearing the bloody sight that would meet my eyes. I couldn't stay up for much longer. I needed to do something, and quick.

I threw my wand, a boomerang shaped object, straight at the Set animal's face. Just before it hit his body, I yelled, "A'max!" Burn.

Now, fire isn't my strong suit. I'm more of a water elementalist, but for once my fire spell worked. The wand erupted into flames as it hit his body. He rolled around on the ground blindly, howling.

I had about one second to be proud of my little trick before my shaky thigh collapsed on me as I hit the ground. I clenched my teeth as waves of pain rocked my body, before I was being dragged back up on my feet by someone no less than Rachael Stone.

"Ow," I moaned, leaning heavily against her. "Watch the leg."

Instead of words of comfort or encouragement, or even exclamations of greeting, Rachael yelled, "Why the HELL did you disappear a week ago?"

"Ah, good ques—"

"Watch out!"

She let another arrow fly at the Set animal, who was just about to strike again. It left a gash in his hind leg.

I felt like passing out. The spells had left me exhausted, especially the protective walls trick. My voice slurred together as my body sagged.

"Rachael."

"Don't fall asleep on me!" Rachael shouted into my ear and I flinched. "Savvy!"

"Rachael… I have a plan…"

Rachael pushed me down and we both hit the ground as the Set animal leaped over us, where our heads used to be.

"What's your plan?!"

Using Rachael as support, I managed to get to my feet, my right leg wobbling.

"Distract the Set animal," I said through clenched teeth, "And meet me at the front of the amusement park, where the sign is. Go!"

I pushed Rachael at the Set animal and hobbled towards the sign as fast as possible.


	15. Chapter 15

RACHAEL

**Chapter 15**

I was full of mixed feelings as the monster chased me towards the entrance to the park.

Everyone knows the basic feelings: sadness, anger, happiness, et cetera. But what I felt now was such a hugely mixed combination of those and quite a few more that I felt like I should make up a new word.

First of all, I was still trying to process the idea that I was alive. Alive and breathing. The Set animal had me cornered. I was done for. But then, out of nowhere… Savvy appeared.

Savvy was another thing. I was insanely happy I had found her (duh), but also kind of mad. Okay, pretty mad. I hate to admit it, but all this time I had pictured Savvy in some sort of dungeon, battered and bruised, captured by Nyx or something. The next thing I know, Savvy is standing right in front of my face, healthy as ever, while I was still lying on the ground like an idiot marvelling at the fact that I was still in one piece.

And she shouted something, some kind of spell…avast, was it? No…_ A'max._ Whatever that meant. While I was still processing where Savvy had come from, some kind of stick she was holding had promptly burst into flames and struck the Set animal's body. I had no idea what she had just done, but whatever it was, it worked, giving just enough time for Savvy to let me know that she had a plan.

A_ plan._ I don't mean to be rude, but Savvy rarely comes up with plans. I mean, she's smart and all, but not really the planning type. He style involves more of jumping into the situation without considering the consequences and "go with the flow" type. In other words, no planning involved. Another thing that was bothering me was where Savvy had learned to do those things. It had been almost a week since the _arai_ incident, and now that I think about it, she could have been anywhere.

I heard a deafening roar that could only be produced by the Set animal just a few metres behind me, and that reminded me that I could be dwelling on such things later.

What had Savvy said? Distract the Set animal and meet her at the front of the amusement park? It wasn't often that I followed Savvy's orders, but hey, she just saved my life. What could go wrong?

Well, if distracting the Set animal was Savvy's grand idea, then that was what I would do.

I yelled over my shoulder while still running. "Hey! Ugly! Over here!" Not the most creative insult, I admit, but it worked.

_I will… I will tear you to pieces! You'll be sorry you ever crossed my path!_

"Sound tempting!" I said. "But I think I'll pass."

The Set animal growled fiercely, louder this time, which could only mean it was gaining ground. I stumbled on some graved but continued forward, slightly cursing under my breath. Running wasn't my strong suit. Well, if you wanted to talk long distance I'd beat you any day, but I could _not_ sprint, which was really not helpful in this situation.

I almost slammed headfirst into the stone archway as I reached the amusement park entrance. I glanced around, looking for the sign Savvy had mentioned, but only spotted a brought yellow but slightly banged up billboard supported by two stone pillars. It read:

HAPPY FAMILIES AMUSEMENT PARK

I was still staring at the sign in bewilderment while the Set animal pounced on me from behind.

Out of sheer luck, I made it out of the way just in time. The Set animal flew past me and landed sprawling on the ground, growling. Seriously, did this thing ever get tired of growling?

I turned behind me to see the one and only Savvy Hughes standing by the park sign. She looked _really _tired, and was panting and sweating and holding one of the stone pillars for support. I tried not to look at the gash in her thigh.

"Hi," she said, kind of awkwardly, still breathing hard.

I brushed a stray strand of hair out of my eyes. "So what's this plan of yours?"

The Set animal growled again and its body tensed as it got ready to pounce.

"Hold on a sec," she said. "This thing's getting on my nerves." She raised a sort of black and white staff with strange hieroglyphics inscribed down the side and yelled, "_Ha-wi_!"

A golden hieroglyph burned in the air in front of Savvy.

The Set animal flew back by an invisible force of energy and lay on the ground still.

I stared open-mouthed at Savvy.

"Anyway," she continued. "The stone arch way. If we can bring it down on top of the Set animal..."

I saw where this was going. "What do you want me to do?"

She shrugged. "Distract the Set animal, keep it focused on you."

"Mm-hmm."

"The stone arch way looks pretty strong, and I've already conjured a lot of spells today, so I'll have to weaken it by hand first before using magic."

"Yeah…" I said stupidly, getting more and more confused by the second.

"Oh, and can you try to corner it into that area," she pointed at the ground and directly below the centre of the arch, "so we can be sure the rocks will fall on top of it?"

"Anything else? Would you like a cold drink and a slice of pizza as well?"

"Shut up Rachael."

_DEATH!_ The Set animal screamed in my head.

I backed away from the arch as Savvy began hacking away at the stone with a rock. Normally I would think the rock wouldn't make a scratch, but the rock was glowing ever so slightly and seemed to be doing its job quite well, so I didn't say anything.

The Set animal advanced towards me, and for a second I stood frozen. How was I supposed to defend myself? I had no weapon, except for Alexis and there was no way I could use that against the Set animal. We all saw how wonderfully that worked last time.

I took another step back when I felt something shift in my right boot. I quickly stuffed my hand inside and pulled out nothing other than a Celestial Bronze dagger. It was still there, exactly where I had hidden it before Capture the Flag.

I wielded it before me, and the world shifted into slow motion.

I had never been as skilful with a dagger as I was with archery, but it seemed that this once luck was on my side. I was mostly parrying the Set animal's strikes; it was much too fast for me to sneak in a blow of my own. I was dimly aware of Savvy trying to weaken the archway, but all my focus was on the Set animal. I knew that the second that concentration wavered, it was game over.

The Set animal paused and sniffed the air hungrily, as if just realizing there was another tasty mortal behind it, making more than a bit of noise.

"Oh, no you don't," I said and slashed at the monster's back. It snarled at me and we continued our fight.

The pounding noise suddenly stopped. Savvy must have finished weakening the arch. She nodded at me, and in that split second pause the Set animal head-butted me so hard I went flying backwards and landed hard on my ankle.

Immediately I knew I had broken it. Pain like a hot steel wire made its way up my leg. The world narrowed to just me, my ankle, and the pure _agony_.

"You _had_ to break." I scolded it.

The ankle did not reply.

"_Di immortals_," I cursed under my breath. I had been lost, separated from Camp Half-Blood and my best friend for five days, battled the Set animal which really shouldn't exist, finally had found Savvy, all to be stopped by a stupid broken ankle. I began to crawl away from the shadow of the arch, wincing with every movement.

The Set animal snarled again, but just as it was getting ready to pounce, Savvy's clear voice rang through the amusement park.

"_Sa-hei!_" For a moment nothing happened, and I glanced at Savvy quizzically, but slowly a golden hieroglyph appeared seemingly from thin air:

And then one hundred pounds of stone crashed directly on top of the Set animal, burying it. In less than thirty seconds, Savvy and I were looking at nothing but a huge pile of rocks.

"Well." I said, still tightly holding my ankle. Savvy cracked a smile and then winced as she remembered her thigh.

I took off my backpack, now worn from recent events, and rummaged through it. "Please, please," I muttered. I came up victorious and grinned. I held in my hands a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia.

I held it out for Savvy to see, but she just looked at me weirdly.

"Why are you shoving yellow brownies at me?" She asked.

I sighed dramatically. "This, unbeliever, is what's going to heal your thigh. Feel the power of ambrosia!"

Savvy just stared at me like I had gone bonkers. I rolled my eyes and opened the package and ate a couple squares. Instantly my ankle went from unbearable pain to a slight throb. Of course, if wouldn't heal right away. Even ambrosia wasn't _that_ powerful. But two, three days at the most and I would be right as rain. Hopefully.

I tried to stand, and Savvy came over to steady me. I gestured to the ambrosia, and she shrugged and ate a square. Her eyes widened. "It tastes just like Beth's cheesecake!"

I grinned, and Savvy went for another piece, but I stopped her and shook my head. "Not too much. You could burn up." She instantly dropped the square. Apparently she wasn't looking too forward to that happening. She opened her mouth to say more but before she could a dark red light shined through the cracks in the rocks. I groaned. "It's _still_ alive?"

Savvy cursed slightly and we both backed away from the pile of rubble, neither of us having the strength to stand. Frankly, it looked like Savvy was on the verge of passing out.

With a load roar, the rocks exploded and Savvy and I covered our eyes with our hands to avoid head injury. The next thing I knew the Set animal towered over us, growling.

I looked over to Savvy, who was holding something in her hands. Some kind of necklace maybe? I shot her a curious look, wondering what she was doing, but she clasped the pendant in her hand and muttered something under her breath. At first nothing happened, and Savvy tossed the pendant away in frustration, but it soon began to glow softly.

The Set animal roared, but just as it was about to strike, it tensed up suddenly as if something has struck it from behind, and promptly exploded into dust.

Umm…

Standing behind what used to be the Set animal was a small and agile figure, like a gymnast, with black hair and wore a…skin-tight leopard-print leotard?

And was it just me, or were her eyes _yellow?_

I wasn't really sure what to make of it, but Savvy was certainly very relieved at the person's appearance. Well, I supposed I should be too (she did save our lives), but I was too busy trying to take in the creature's taste of fashion.

Savvy's gaze shifted from the amulet, now lying abandoned on the ground, its glow faded, to the person standing in front of us. Her expression changed from that of exceeding pain from her thigh, to the utmost gratitude. "I can't believe it actually worked!" she marvelled, examining the amulet with respect.

The person turned towards Savvy and smiled, her eyes glinting like a cat's as she did so. "You must be Bast!" Savvy said, grinning back. "Carter and Sadie told me about you!"

I didn't mean to be rude (actually, I _hated_ to be rude, unlike a certain Savvy Hughes), but those eyes were seriously bothering me. "Um, excuse me for saying so," I started, not really sure how to put it into words, "but do you wear contacts?"

Bast narrowed her feline eyes in suspicion, and Savvy shot me an annoyed look. "Rachael!" she scolded. "Don't be rude!"

Who just said that?

"Speak for yourself," I said indignantly.

"She's the goddess of cats and protection," Savvy continued, speaking extremely slowly as if I wouldn't understand otherwise.

She definitely deserved a punch in the face.

I searched me brain for connections. Something sparked into my mind from Madam Isabelle's lessons.

_"Bast is an extremely skilled fighter, both with and without magic. She is highly adept at using her two knives to fight and has many acrobatic abilities. One could say she has "catlike" reflexes, and is shown to be an incredible fighter. She may have power over fire, as she is a daughter of Ra, the sun god."_

Bast, the goddess of cats? "But you're not supposed to exist," I said, voicing my thoughts involuntarily. "You're Egyptian."

Bast decided to ignore me completely and turned towards Savvy. "Where are my little kittens?" she asked worriedly.

Savvy looked confused for a moment before her expression turned to one of understanding. "Oh! You mean Sadie and Carter? They're…somewhere around here."

Bast studied Savvy for a moment as if trying to decide whether or not she should trust what she said, but after a minute or so she gave a hesitant nod.

I got up and shook Savvy's shoulder, my patience wearing extremely thin. "Who's Sadie and Carter?" I asked, trying to keep a cool tone.

No. I could not let my temper get the better of me here.

Savvy shrugged nonchalantly. "People."

As if I didn't already know. I usually wasn't the one to be asking what was going on, but the one answering them. Most new demigods who arrived at camp were still hesitant to believe the whole one-of-your-parents-is-actually-an-immortal-god thing. But that wasn't me. I had gone through that years ago, yet someone here smelled fishy.

And no, I didn't mean the deli store nearby.

"Savvy," I said, trying to come up with a logical explanation myself before asking, "Can you please explain what's going on?"

She gave me a frustrated look. "What about you? It's not every day I learn that my best friend can shoot with a bow and arrow almost perfectly, jump over twelve foot fences and disappear into light!"

I stopped short. She had a point, though the last thing wasn't actually my doing.

"Kittens!" Bast catcalled. "We should go look for Carter and Sadie."

Savvy nodded. "Come on, Rachael."

"Coming," I grumbled, my tone angry. I didn't even know who these people were, yet I was supposed to help search the entire of Manhattan for them? Hadn't I done enough searching already?

I glared at Bast shortly before we exited the park. I preferred not to be labeled as a "kitten".

…

One hour later and we _still_ hadn't found them.

Bast was overly obsessed with knowing that they were okay. Anytime I suggested that they probably already moved on she would shoot me a menacing glare. If looks could kill, I'd be dead about 100 times over by now.

Savvy wasn't as bad as Bast, but was still bent on meeting up with them. How could she have so much faith in them? What if they were monsters in disguise, building up a fake trust so they would have a clear shot?

And me? Well, I was pretty much ready to damn everything else, pack up my stuff and move to Australia. And I wasn't sure if Savvy noticed my ankle, but _I _certainly did. And it was pretty much killing me after this much walking. The ambrosia had done its work well, but I really needed crutches or something.

We stopped at a park bench to take a quick rest. I sat down, taking deep breaths and trying to divert my attention away from my ankle. I seriously hope we didn't get attacked right now, because I would be useless.

"Where _are_ they?" Savvy grumbled.

"We have to find my kittens!" Bast cried.

"Can we _go_ now?" I muttered, frustrated.

Suddenly Savvy sat up. "I have an idea!" she announced proudly.

"Great. Brazil?"

She gave me a disapproving look. "No, Rachael." She said while pulling a long rod from her bag. "_Heqat._" She said. The rod grew longer and wider, and soon Savvy was holding in her hands a black and white staff.

"_That_ again?" I grumbled.

Bast shot me another glare.

"_Arjana!_" Savvy spoke, while looking intensely at the staff. Something clicked in my mind: _find_.

Nothing happened.

Savvy mumbled something and the staff shrank back into a rod. She laid it on the flat of her palm and stood up, speaking the spell again.

The rod glowed for a few seconds, but then quickly died out.

"See?" I said, smugly.

"Whatever," Savvy muttered, dejected.

"Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Who _are _you people?" I was quite serious. For one of the first times in my life, I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Savvy looked at me, biting her lip, as if like, how do I explain?

Suddenly it all clicked in my head. Egyptian goddesses, Egyptian monsters, Egyptian magicians, Egyptian _Egyptians,_ I scolded myself for not noticing, the throbbing pain of my ankle overruled any other thought. I was such an idiot!

Egyptian.

"No." I muttered. No no no NOOOO...

What is it with my stupid life? One day, at eleven years old, someone knocks on my doorstep and tells me the Greek gods are real. Fine. Why not?

A year later, Percy disappears, and a bunch of new _Roman_ demigods come into the equation, bringing with them a lot more trouble.

And then, as my life slowly settled back into routine, I find out there's a whole new world of… of…_Egyptians_.

Really? How weird can a person's life get?

Oh, and my ankle. Okay, that wasn't really _weird_, but it hurt. A lot.

"Just…" I started, trying to get a grip. "Tell me later." Savvy nodded. "So, how are we going to reach them?"

Savvy just shook her head and we all kind of just sat there for a few minutes, mulling over the situation. Then the next thing I know Savvy's running off with a smile on her face, returning a couple minutes later with a smug grin and a phone gripped in her hand.

"Really?" I asked. "You stole another one?"

She didn't even bother answering, but punched in the number and pressed dial. There was a blast of static but eventually I heard a soft voice at the other end of the line.

"Hello?" Savvy asked. "Yeah, Sadie? Yes, I'm fine. Where's Carter? We're at 55th street. Where are you?" I waited as Savvy had a mini conversation on the phone, but started as something she said caught my attention. "We killed the Set animal."

There was a pause at the other end of the line.

Savvy chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up.

"Well?" I asked. "What did they say?"

Savvy turned to Bast and me. "They're too far to meet up with us. I said we'll meet back at the House of Life."

"The House of Life?"

Bast nodded. "We'll have to conjure a portal."

Savvy glanced at her wristwatch. "Hey, if you're back, that mean _all _the gods are back." She shrugged. "Cool. I think the next auspicious moment is in a couple of minutes."

"Wait, where are we going?" I questioned. I had to make sure I knew what was going on before we ended up on the moon or something.

"The House of Life," Savvy answered.

"Yeah, well, ever think of the fact that I don't want to go there?" I argued, my tone heating up.

"Ever think we need to?"

"We don't _need_ to do anything!" I tried, exasperated. "Look, Savvy. I don't know who these people are and I excuse me if I don't want to go puppy dogging around them!"

"Well _I_ want to! Ever think of that, Rachael? Ever think of what _I_ want?"

We were seriously arguing now, but I wasn't going to back down. "I don't want to go to your stinking House of Noodles!" I yelled.

"Then don't come!" she yelled at me. I stopped short.

"What?"

"I'm going, Rachael, whether you like it or not. Because… because maybe this is where I _belong_, okay?"

"I…" I started, but I couldn't think of anything to say. I hadn't really realized why Savvy was so attached to these people. Only now it came to me: she found somewhere where she could be herself. A place where she felt like she belonged.

And being her best friend, I knew that that was a definite rarity.

"All right," I gave in. "I'm coming."

Savvy grinned at me. "Let's get this show on the road."


	16. Chapter 16

SAVVY

**Chapter 16**

Okay, before I get to the unbelievably hot god, I probably should back up just a little.

After we killed the Set animal (or should I say after _Bast_ killed the Set animal) I felt like I was in a dream. Considering that all my dreams had been horrible the past week, that wasn't quite the best way to put it, because I was having the best dream of my life.

Sure, I was in a little pain. Ok, a _lot_ of pain. And so was Rachael. In fact, she was probably in a lot more pain than I was. I glanced at her chalky white face, which was screwed up in an attempt to keep quiet whenever she put weight onto her messed up ankle.

But I had found her. I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that miraculously, she had been found. Waves of relief and ecstasy washed through me. I was probably a little too cheery considering the circumstances.

But not far behind came confusion, anger, and a teensy weensy bit of jealousy.

Firstly, Rachael didn't seem as happy to see me as I was to see her, which I admit made me feel a little betrayed. I knew Rachael can keep her emotions bottled up pretty well, but still. The first thing she did after a week of separation was to yell at me. For disappearing, as if that was my fault.

Also, I was mad that she doubted my trust. Couldn't she see that I had found somewhere I belonged? Couldn't she just accept the fact that she wasn't the only friend I had now?

The jealousy part I felt guilty about. Rachael couldn't help it if she was exceedingly intelligent and strategic, more so than I had known her before. She couldn't help it if she could shoot perfectly with a bow and arrow and had lightning reflexes with a dagger, more advanced than I was with Thorn. She couldn't help being brave, courageous, calm, cool, and pretty much superhero.

Not to forget she had tons of the strange delicious healing brownies at hand— though they didn't actually taste like brownies. They tasted like Beth's cheesecake. Although her cheesecake was always too crumbly, I loved them, and it made me miss her so much. And for some reason, after eating them some of the gashes on my thigh had healed.

But I had more pressing matters to deal with. Rachael was in _pain._ I glanced back at her again, worried. The brownie squares, or the ambrosia, as she had called it, had helped her a little. Bast had helped her to set her ankle and took away a little pain by magic. But she was still obviously feeling her injury.

I realized I was tugging my sa amulet. I had picked it up and fastened it around my neck even after it had been used. Another thing I couldn't believe— that the gods had listened to my prayers. They had sent me Bast.

I had heard a lot of stories about Bast. She was Carter and Sadie's favourite goddess. I felt like I already knew her, and I was immensely happy the gods had sent Bast. Bast seemed to decide to trust me too, but she and Rachael didn't seem to get along.

The big downside was that if Bast came back, the rest of the gods would. If the gods came back… what about Apophis? I had never met him, but I really did NOT want too.

I shook my head. I was getting carried away again. I needed to stay focused.

"Almost there," Bast told me. Her feline eyes searched the streets as we walked, looking for spots of danger.

"Where are we going exactly?" I asked.

"Metropolitan Museum of Art," She answered. "A couple of years ago, Sadie and Carter — and I — were there to conjure a portal. Behind the museum is Central Park. There's a monument there you can use to conjure up a portal."

"Okay," I said absently, looking back at Rachael. Then I stopped. "Wait. _Me_?"

Bast smiled at me kindly for the first time. "Yes, you. Cats are protectors. We don't do portals."

"B… But…" I had no clue how I was supposed to open up a portal. Zia had said it was super advanced magic, and I was already worn out. But how else were we supposed to get to the House of Life?

And then I had a brilliant idea. (This is your cue to gasp. Two ideas in a day?! Unbelievable, right?)

I reached into my messenger bag, pushing aside various amulets, shabti, my wand and my staff, until I produced a small red object. A whistle.

Sucking in a gulp-ful of air, I blew into it.

Nothing happened, and no sound came out.

Rachael looked at me weirdly. "What was that?"

"Patience," I said, looking up at the sky, a maniac grin on my face. Rachael was going to hate me for this…

…

Okay, so maybe calling Freak wasn't the most brilliant idea after all. He didn't take long to show up, and I thought Rachael was just about to pass out from fear. I had almost forgotten her aversion to birds, and a large half bird like Freak was sure to be more than a little scary. I pushed her on Freak while she stuttered and protested, and she jumped a mile high when he gave a loud FREEEAK!

"Don't worry Freak," I said. "I'll get you some turkeys soon."

Rachael shot me a weird look for the fiftieth time today.

I'm not going to bother with giving you the full explanation of the trip to the Hall of Ages, but here's the shortened version— we went through the Duat and Rachael freaked out. We went through the Cairo airport and she freaked out. We took a shortcut through the city and she freaked out. She looked completely overwhelmed by the whole new world she had just been introduced too.

By the time we got to the Hall of Ages she had a thunderstruck expression on her face, and she gaped wordlessly at the shifting pictures on each wall as we walked through the long hall.

I must admit, it was fun to see Rachael the one freaking out for once. For one and a half years of best friend history she acted like she's seen it all, knew it all. And now she looked like… well, me, I guess.

"C'mon," I said, pulling her away from an image of some of the gods at a banquet. "We're almost there."

"Almost where?"

I grinned. "The coolest war room on earth."

I pushed the door open to the secret room at the back of the hall, letting Bast and Rachael go in first. And stopped.

Let me explain something really quickly before I go on. So I've always had a regular interest in boys, a few crushes here and there, no serious relationships or anything. Mostly I was too concentrated on other stuff in life than dealing with the opposite gender. So I was _so_ not prepared for… for…

The guy standing in the middle of the room.

My first though was that I had died and went to heaven. He was astoundingly, astonishingly, remarkably hot. _Drop dead gorgeous_, which is what I felt like doing. Dropping dead, that is.

I was feeling a weird tingly sensation I had never felt before. I couldn't name it, and it felt weird.

The god-like creature couldn't have been more than 16, and was tall and athletic.

He had beautiful coffee brown skin and dark chocolate eyes, and he was wearing all black— black jeans, black muscle tee, a black leather jacket and combat boots.

Speaking of combat boots…

I didn't realize at first, but Sadie was standing next to him. I noticed Carter, Zia, and Amos there too, but I was only looking at Sadie. And her hand. Which was holding Walt's.

Well, _damn._

I couldn't speak, it was like someone had popped my dream like it was a bubble. The world narrowed down to one point— the hands of Sadie and the god-boy, interwoven together. Perhaps if I stared at it long enough, they would jerk apart. Let go. Let go. Let go.

Rachael was the one to break the silence.

"Nope," She said. "Not the coolest war room."

"What?" I mumbled distractedly, still staring at their hands.

"I've seen cooler war rooms. This is nothing compared to Bunker 9." Rachael said absently, staring at Sadie, Carter, Amos and Zia.

And then came the explosion.

"BAST!" Carter and Sadie shrieked in unison. I breathed a sigh of relief as Sadie finally let go of the god-boy's hand, and she and Carter both barrelled past us to attack Bast— sorry, to hug her a little over-enthusiastically.

Bast smoothed their hair down and immediately began checking their bodies for injuries. "My kittens! I've been so worried!"

Meanwhile I was still gazing at the guy. He stared back, a little curiously, as if wondering why a lunatic was looking at him so intently.

Sadie seemed to finally notice me. "Oh yeah, Savvy. This is Walt Stone, or you could call him Anubis." My brow furrowed in confusion, but Sadie didn't notice because she was grinning at him idiotically and he was smiling back with the same ridiculous grin on his face. "He's my boyfriend."

That was when I knew.

Well, DUH!

I was socially awkward. I had no experience in boys. And I was interested in someone way beyond my league? Someone who was incredibly hot and should be way too old for me? I was such an idiot! I didn't have a chance.

Worst of all, Sadie was already with him. Sadie was one of my closest _friends_ for god's sakes. What was I to do? A snide little voice in my head urged me to ditch Sadie, to hate her for going out with the boy of my dreams, but I clamped down on it. I wasn't that shallow. Was I?

My eyes were hot and prickly, and I blinked quickly. Rachael caught that, and she narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Carter seemed to notice Rachael at the same time. "Who's that?"

I finally tore my eyes away from Walt Stone. Zia was looking baffled by the turn of events, and Amos was frowning.

"It seems we have a lot to discuss." He said, shaking his head.

…

A couple minutes later, we were sitting around the table with the map of the world on it. We all had a cup of _sahlab_, delicious tasting hot vanilla, sitting in front of us. I had introduced Rachael to everybody and vice versa already. Amos had wanted us to recount our full story properly.

I decided to start from the very start.

I hadn't yet told Sadie, Carter, Zia, and Amos about our encounter with the _arai_, and I felt like this was the time to enlighten them at last. I avoided Walt's gaze as I explained what had happened from my point of view starting from what happened in the classroom, Miss Uglyface, our fight and my disappearance. I tried not to talk too much about the part when I was injured and doomed, and needed a goddess to save me, because for some reason I didn't quite want Walt to know.

I filled in Rachael quickly about where I'd been for the past 5 days. I only said I had been found by Carter/Sadie, had to fight off a god, and ended up here. I told her that we were in Manhattan because we were on a hunting mission.

"What I don't get," I concluded, "Was Miss Uglyface back at school. I mean, what is she?"

I hadn't actually expected an answer, I was just wondering out loud. So it surprised me when Rachael did.

"_Arai_," Rachael muttered. "The monster was an _arai,_ from Tartarus."

We stared at her.

"Rachael," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "Could you please tell us your story? Who exactly are you?"

She closed her eyes and sighed, raising one finger, as she thought hard. Then she spoke.

"You — all of you — you're Egyptian." Her voice matched mine, cool and calm. It wasn't a question.

"Yes," I said, refraining from adding a "duh".

"So it's true. Everything is true. The myths, your gods, everything."

"Yes," I repeated impatiently. "But who and what are _you_?"

There was silence, and then Rachael opened her eyes.

"I suppose I can't keep it from you much longer. And Savvy, I think you deserve to know. I—" Her voice caught. "I'm… well, I'm kind of… I'm sort of a Greek demigod."

"Marvelous! You're a god?" Sadie exclaimed immediately.

Rachael frowned, "No no no, I'm a demigod. A half blood. Half god, half mortal. Isn't that what you are?"

Carter leaned forwards. "You mean you're like a hybrid? Half and half?"

"No… well, I guess. You people are demigods too, right?" Rachael was perplexed.

"No," Zia answered. "We are Egyptian magicians. We are not gods. We have the blood of the pharaohs, and we train in the methods of Egyptian mythology and magic. That is what we are, that is what we do."

"Wait a sec," I cut in. "Rachael — did you say Greek?"

"Yes," She said, meeting my gaze. "I'm Greek. I'm a Greek demigod. I am the daughter of one of the many Greek gods and goddesses. I'm not Egyptian."

There was silence so thick is pressed at our eardrums.

Finally Walt spoke. "That's… that's…"

He said "impossible" at the same time I said "unbelievable" and Sadie said "brilliant".

Rachael cracked a smile. "It's possible. It's overwhelming, but true. And it sounds brilliant at first, but it can be horrible."

"But_ how_ can this be possible?" Carter pressed. "We have Nomes all over the world, yet we've never heard of such thing as a Greek demigod!"

"It's not just Greek," said Rachael. "There's Roman demigods too, but we only joined together very recently. There's more of me. There are hundreds of Greek and Roman demigods, and we live in two separate camps. The Roman one is in 'Frisco, called Camp Jupiter." She hesitated, as if reluctant to give out information. "The Greek one is Long Island South, New York, called Camp Half-Blood.

"It's dangerous being a demigod. We have a scent only monsters can distinguish, and they are absolutely bent on making our lives hell. We train at the camps to fight monsters, and to survive, because chances of survival are pretty darn small."

"The camp," I thought aloud. "I saw you in a camp in one of my dreams. But it was so… weird. It had flying horses, lava climbing walls, warships, swordfighting arenas—"

"It's not strange for demigods to have dreams and visions that show you places and people," Rachael said, interrupting me. "We are vulnerable in some ways like humans, but we have our godly parent's traits too. We have some level of control or skill over our parent's realm. For example— one of my friends, Percy Jackson—"

"Hey, I know that name!" I blurted out. A little memory popped to the surface of my brain— Rachael trying to get me to read a book in school, pestering me continuously. "Percy Jackson… isn't he the main character of…"

"The books written by Rick Riordan?" Rachael ended. "Yes, the very same Percy Jackson."

She went on to explain the story behind Rick Riordan and his books, and how they had gone to him after the wars to write the two series so that the catastrophic events could be recorded and that demigods across the world would be aware that there were people like them.

However, she said, she wasn't allowed by Chiron to be included in the stories, and she didn't know why.

"Back to the subject," said Rachael. "So, demigods have some level of control or skill over their realm. Percy's dad — he's kind of Poseidon, god of the ocean, horses and earthquakes. Poseidon's one of the most powerful gods, so Percy is a powerful demigod. He can control the ocean and talk to sea creatures and horses. It's rare for someone to be as powerful as him."

I sighed loudly as I realized that Rachael was in full speech mode now, as if she was giving a lecture on the subject "demigods".

"Demigods can speak Ancient Greek and Latin a bit, which is why most of us have dyslexia — Ancient Greek and Latin are our godly parent's languages, and we are born to speak those languages, not English. Most of us also have Attention Deficit Disorder or ADHD too, because our brain is hardwired for battle."

"That doesn't make sense," I protested. "I have ADHD AND dyslexia, and I'm not a semi-god or whatever it is."

"Yes," Rachael murmured. "I thought you were a demigod too, when I first met you. That's why I was at the same school as you, I was helping recruit demigods and you seemed like one, so I was watching you all year, protecting you from monsters when you don't realize. You have a powerful aura. But I suppose it was just a coincidence all along that you have ADHD and dyslexia. You're obviously part of the Egyptian world.

"Anyway," She continued her lecture. "A lot of the time, the world is in danger. The Titans, who are old and powerful, threatened to take over Olympus and destroy the world two years or so ago. The gods and demigods fought back and won, but barely. Later, the Giants stirred, led by Gaea, the old and powerful Earth goddess. We had to join with the Romans to defeat the Giants and lull Gaea back to her slumber."

"Sounds fun," muttered Walt. He had been thinking along the same lines as me! That made me feel happy inside. Walt and I were obviously meant for each other, we had _so_ much in common already.

"Basically," Rachael said, interrupting my train of thought. "Life as a demigod is a lot of trouble. We have to go on numerous quests to save the world numerous times. I thought that after Kronos _and_ Gaea, I'd finally be able to live my life as peacefully as a normal demigod would. But then YOU came along."

I pressed my fingers to my temples, hard, trying to grasp the situation. Looking around, I saw that Carter, Sadie, Zia and Walt were all looking shell shocked. Walt still managed to look stunning, even when he's stunned, which was totally unfair. How was I supposed to concentrate in a situation like this?

Bast was tilting her head, absorbing the words and thinking them over. She looked a little bewildered. "Greek gods and goddesses? Possible, but that's completely…" she muttered, trailing off.

Meanwhile, Amos was frowning but didn't look too surprised. "I've heard stories of other myths being real," He mused. "They say Egypt has always face challenges from outside— magicians from elsewhere. Maybe even gods from elsewhere. I've always thought there were other people in this world, it does explain a lot."

"Rachael," I was horrified that my voice was shaky with shock. "Rachael, you've never told me anything like that before. Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best _friend._ Or was that a lie too?"

"I'm sorry," Rachael said, looking regretful. "When a demigod is aware he or she's a demigod, monsters can track them down faster. I couldn't tell you anything, but believe me, I really wanted too. Just because I've been protecting you doesn't mean I was pretending the whole time, I'm still your best friend." She gave me a small smile that I didn't return; I was still in a stupor.

"But then… if you're actually a godly whatever-it-is..." Sadie leaned forward. "Who's your parent?"

Rachael slumped, as if she was used to this question. "I honestly… don't know. Some demigods don't know at all. After the Titan war… well, it's a long story, but we made the gods promise to claim every single kid. But I didn't get claimed for some stupid reason. I'm supposedly a powerful demigod… I'm could be Poseidon like Percy, but I'm afraid of water. I might be Athena, the goddess of wisdom, but I don't know for sure. My best guess is Hecate, the goddess of magic, but…"

"Rachael Rachael Rachael." I shook my head from side to side slowly, trying to grasp the situation. "You're saying there is such thing as Greek demigods."

"And Romans," She clarified.

"And they are half god— like actually half a god."

"Or goddess," She added. "And they go on quests, but then they'll need Rachel to issue a prophecy when they do…"

Suddenly she broke off, her eyes widening. "Wait a second! The prophecy! I had almost forgotten!"

"What?"

"When demigods go on quests, they go to Rachel, our oracle. She makes prophecies for their quests. Before I left, Rachel randomly sprouted a prophecy. It made no sense then, but it does a little now." Rachael's eyes were sparkling now, like it usually does when she's cracked a code or solved a particularly difficult question.

"What?" I repeated, totally lost.

Rachael closed her eyes, ignoring me as she tried to remember the words.

"This was the whole prophecy," She said.

_"A price to pay, shall end the light of day_

_Two halves must unite, through a window of light_

_The darkest shall rise, after tales of endless lies_

_Born in the shortest of twelve parts,_

_Alone to face the ones with no hearts._

"And some of it makes sense now! _Two halves must unite, _that probably means the Greek/Romans and the Egyptians! The demigods and the magicians must unite, but why? _End the light of day, the darkest shall rise_, that means… that means Nyx! Night! Night is rising! I knew it! We must unite to defeat Night!"

"Why are you reciting poems?" I half-yelled, frustrated. "And who in the freaking hell is Night?"

"Night? Oh, she just happens to be the oldest goddess of them all, the mother of all terrors such as the Fates, Old Age, Pain, Death, the Giants, the Monster, the Titans, the most dangerous goddess, the goddess of night, who lives in the pit of Tartarus and wants to overthrow the gods and rule the world and is by far worse than the Titans and about as bad as Gaea, but it really doesn't matter who she is because obviously she's not important…"

"And she's _RISING?_" I shrieked, my voice shooting through two octaves. "She wants to rule the _WORLD_?" Somehow this didn't strike me as the situation to make jokes.

"I think so; it explains the sudden inflation of attacks by monsters, and my weird dreams, and how it's so much darker nowadays. She's the goddess of Night, after all. But she can't rise by herself, she's anchored to Tartarus. She'll need help from someone." On and on Rachael rambled, still in the same excited tone until…

"Great!" Sadie shouted, throwing her hands up. She was giving up, like me, in frustration. "Just lovely, absolutely cracking! First we have the threat of Apophis coming back! Now your barmy goddess Night lady person is plotting to overthrow the blimming world, for heaven's sakes. That's just completely…"

"Sadie, calm down." Bast cut in, finally speaking. Her hair was all poofed up, like a cat does when it senses danger or is scared. "I just realized something. It probably is no coincidence that Apophis and Night are both rising at the same time. They both want the same thing, don't they? To rule the world, to destroy civilization. It's probably not a surprise if—"

"They're in it together." Carter's face was pale and sickly, and he looked terrified. Like, wet-your-pants terrified. As the pharaoh of the Egyptians, Carter was a natural at leading. He barely ever betrayed fear; he was always brave, calm and collected. I had never seen him like this before.

For a second I had an urge to laugh at his expression, and then I realized that he had battled Apophis before, and I hadn't. He knew what it was like, and if this could make him scared… if this could make all of them scared…

"We don't know that for certain, Carter," Zia said. She looked at all of us, her brown eyes piercing. "We probably shouldn't dwell on the unknown. We should plan ahead for what we know now."

"Yeah, okay whatever," Rachael said tiredly. "But now it's your turn. I just told you about my world, but I still don't know anything about yours. Who are you guys, _what_ are you guys, what do you do, what is your life like as a magician, who are your gods…?"

On and on and on, Rachael let loose a torrent of questions upon us. Carter was eager to explain, and their conversations dragged on like a college lecture, with the rest of them chipping in here and there. That allowed me enough time to sit back and let Carter talk for once, and think about everything Rachael told me.

Walt smiled at me from across the table, but before I could smile hesitantly back he had looked away towards Sadie.

Rachael explained what had happened to her while I was gone. Apparently, she had gone back to her little godly camp and during one of her deadly war games, had been teleported mysteriously to Manhattan.

"From the way you describe it, it was probably a portal," Zia said thoughtfully. "I wonder how it was placed there- most likely the gods."

I was beginning to realize how big of a part the gods played in our mortal's lives. Although Isis had said many times during our "appointment" that the Fates don't allow her to say or do much, they still were very capable of changing our lives entirely.

Rachael snapping her fingers below my nose woke me out of my reverie. "Hey Savvy!"

"What?" I grumbled.

"I have one last question about that weird Set animal monster thing. I mean, are all your monsters like that? Like "explodes in sand not dust" and "talking into my head" kind of thing?"

"'Course all monster disintegrate in sand, not… wait." Sadie straightened up. "The Set animal doesn't talk in people's heads. What are you on about?"

"Well, it did." Rachael disagreed, looking at me for support. "Didn't you hear it, Savvy, or was it just me? It was talking. It had sort of a raspy voice — it was super creepy."

I knit my eyebrows. Come to think of it, I did remember a strange hissing sound from the Set animal but I had been too occupied to think about it much.

"Sounds like it was Apophis…" Carter said worriedly. "Apophis must've been talking through the Set animal, possessing it. He does have a creepy raspy voice, and he prefers speaking through things rather than showing his fat ugly face. "

"So Setne didn't release the Set animal after all. It was Apophis, probably targeting you, Rachael." Hearing Walt's voice had the calm butterflies in my stomach start up again.

"It was most likely both," Bast pointed out. "Setne could be working for Apophis."

"Well we can always figure it out in the morning," Amos said calmly, showing none of the anxiousness on his face that was on all of ours. "I'm sure we're all very tired from the events of today, and if Savvy would kindly show our guest to a room, we can all rest."

I pushed my chair back and leapt up. "C'mon, Rachael! Let me show you your new bedroom!" I grabbed her arm and yanked her out of her chair. "And the best thing is, it's right next to mine!"


End file.
